Baruch Spinoza

He alone is free who lives with free consent under the entire guidance of reason. ”

Peace is not the absence of war, but a virtue based on strength of character. ”

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

Self-complacency is pleasure accompanied by the idea of oneself as cause. ”

Pride is pleasure arising from a man's thinking too highly of himself. ”

Happiness is a virtue, not its reward. ”

True virtue is life under the direction of reason. ”

Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many. ”

Sin cannot be conceived in a natural state, but only in a civil state, where it is decreed by common consent what is good or bad. ”

Nothing in the universe is contingent, but all things are conditioned to exist and operate in a particular manner by the necessity of the divine nature. ”