Philosophers

Famous quotes containing the word philosophers:

    Vanity is so anchored in the heart of man that a soldier, a soldier’s servant, a cook, a porter brags and wishes to have his admirers. Even philosophers wish for them. Those who write against vanity want to have the glory of having written well; and those who read it desire the glory of having read it. I who write this have perhaps this desire, and perhaps those who will read it.
    Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)

    When philosophers use a word—”knowledge,” “being,” “object,” “I,” “proposition,” “name”—and try to grasp the essence of the thing, one must always ask oneself: is the word ever actually used in this way in the language-game which is its original home?—What we do is to bring words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use.
    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)

    It is, said Gargantua, as Plato said ... that republics will be happy when kings philosophize or philosophers reign.
    François Rabelais (1494–1553)