Baruch Spinoza Quotes
The free man is as courageous in timely retreat as in combat
The free man, not controlled by others may see no rational reason to fight and therefore the refusal to war can be as courageous as fighting. This idea is still not accepted in many cultures and nations. The issue was argued mightily in the Vietnam War. Spinoza’s ideas were considered so radical and dangerous that he was the only man in history who was excommunicated by the Catholics, the Jews and the Muslims.
Benedict Spinoza, 1632-1677, Dutch Philosopher, Ethics: Proposition 69
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi
Baruch (de) Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Sephardi origin. One of the early thinkers of the Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism, including modern conceptions of the self and the universe, he came to be considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy. Inspired by the groundbreaking ideas of René Descartes, Spinoza became a leading philosophical figure of the Dutch Golden Age. Spinoza's given name, which means "Blessed", varies among different languages. In the Netherlands he used the Portuguese name Bento. In his Latin and Dutch works, he used Latin: Benedictus de Spinoza.
