unreasonable.

Philosophy begins in wonder. Plato, Theaetetus

Philosophical decisions are nothing but the reflections of common life, methodized and corrected. Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations

Philosophy is at once the most sublime and the most trivial of human pursuits. William James, Pragmatism

Gradually it has become clear to me what every great philosophy so far has been: namely the personal confession of its author and a kind of involuntary and unconscious memoir. Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

What sort of philosophy one chooses depends, therefore, on what sort of man one is. Fichte

There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it. Cicero

Philosophy in the widest sense [is] an interest in, and some ability to manipulate, abstract ideas. T S Eliot

If you see a philosopher determining all things by means of right reason, him you shall reverence: he is a heavenly being and not of this earth. Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. Colossians 2:8

Philosophy is an amazing tissue of really fine thinking and incredible, puerile mistakes. Olaf Stapledon, Odd John

Philosophy as such is nothing but genuine awareness of the problems. Leo Strauss

Common sense is better for one sphere of life, science for another, philosophic criticism for a third; but whether either be truer absolutely, Heaven only knows. William James, Pragmatism

philosophia ancilla theologiae
Philosophy is the maidservant of Theology. proverbial

All History is only the precepts of Moral Philosophy reduced into examples. John Dryden

Philosophical problems arise when language goes on holiday. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations

To philosophise is to learn how to die. Cicero

Through the greatness of the universe which philosophy contemplates, the mind also is rendered great, and becomes capable of that union with the universe which constitutes its highest good. Russell, Problems of Philosophy

There was never yet philosopher that could endure the toothache patiently. Shakespeare

True philosophy consists in relearning to look at the world. Merleau-Ponty

Philosophy is the education of grown-ups. Stanley Cavell

Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them. Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary

It is the knowledge of death, and therewith the consideration of the suffering and misery of life, that gives the strongest impulse to philosophical reflection. Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation

Philosophy provides definitions. Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic

Shall I tell you what philosophy holds out to humanity? Counsel. Seneca, Epistles

Philosophy can be compared to some powders that are so corrosive that, after they have eaten away the infected flesh of a wound, they then devour the living flesh, rot the bones, and penetrate to the very marrow. Philosophy at first refutes errors. But if it is not stopped at this point, it goes on to attack truths. Pierre Bayle, Dictionary

Philosophy gives us the means of speaking plausibly about any subject and of winning the admiration of the less learned. Descartes, Discourse on the Method

Too much philosophy is the ruin of human life. Plato, Gorgias

When you are philosophising you have to descend into primeval chaos and feel at home there. Wittgenstein, Culture and Value

There is no finer sight than that of the intelligence at grips with a reality that transcends it. Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus

It is venturesome to think that a co-ordination of words (philosophies are nothing more than that) can resemble the universe very much. It is also venturesome to think that of all these illustrious co-ordinations, one of them — at least in an infinitesimal way — does not resemble the universe a bit more than the others. Borges, Avatars of the Tortoise

Philosophy is like medicine: lots of drugs, few remedies, and hardly any complete cures. Chamfort

Philosophy is the attempt to find good reasons for conventional beliefs. John Gray, Straw Dogs

[Reading philosophy is] a special kind of agony. attr. Wittgenstein

Philosophy is enquiring where the candle flame went when it was blown out. Michael Oakeshott

The aim of philosophy, abstractly formulated, is to understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term. Wilfrid Sellars, Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man

Philosophy got off to a dazzling start; sometimes it can seem that only the last 2300 years have been a little disappointing. Richard Jenkyns, Classical Literature

Philosophy will clip an Angel’s wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine –
Unweave a rainbow. Keats, Lamia

If it does not upset, it is not philosophy. Walter Kaufmann

The philosophers, in order to study reality pure, subject it to about the same transformations as fire or pestle make substance undergo: nothing that we have known of a person or of a fact seems to subsist in those ashes or those crystals to which they are reduced. Margarite Yourcenar, Memoirs of Hadrian

Philosophy doesn’t care what time it is. Peter Adamson

The history of philosophy is to a great extent that of a certain clash of human temperaments. William James, Pragmatism

A philosopher has one duty and aim: to unlock the truth. Whether you do so with a wooden or a golden key is of no concern to me; it is altogether preferable to unlock it with a wooden key than lock it with a golden one. Pico della Mirandola (on style)

A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion. Francis Bacon, Of Atheism

A (short) definition of philosophy: ‘Everything, within reason’. Peter Worley

Cold as a mountain in its star-pitched tent
Stood high Philosophy, less friend than foe:
Whom self-caged Passion, from its prison-bars,
Is always watching with a wondering hate. George Meredith

Philosophy is its own time apprehended in thoughts. G W F Hegel

A philosophical problem has the form: “I don’t know my way about”. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations

Every good mathematician is at least half a philosopher, and every good philosopher is at least half a mathematician. Gottlob Frege

As a matter of history, philosophy must always be interesting. It is the best representative of the mental development of each age. Charles Sanders Peirce

Without a large acquaintance with the history of philosophy, the greatest inventive power will but elaborate some one-sided theory; and the utmost acuteness and depth may waste themselves. James Martineau