Baruch Spinoza

I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.

All happiness or unhappiness solely depends upon the quality of the object to which we are attached by love.

There is no hope unmingled with fear, and no fear unmingled with hope.

Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.

The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.

Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.

Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words.

If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past.

Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear.

All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.