Étienne de La Boétie

Find the best quotes, maxims and aphorisms of Étienne de La Boétie

Biography : French magistrate, classicist, writer, poet and political theorist, best remembered for his friendship with essayist Michel de Montaigne.
Born: 1530 - Died: 1563
Place of birth: France
France

France

Étienne de La Boétie - Quotes

He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that.
John Stuart Mill - On Liberty /

He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that.

Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our mind by means of our language.
Ludwig Wittgenstein - Philosophical Investigations /

Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our mind by means of our language.

True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.
Baltasar Gracian - The Art of Worldly Wisdom /

True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.

Background photo by Maria Shanina on Unsplash

“But he has nothing on at all,” said a little child at last.
Hans Christian Andersen - The Emperor's New Clothes /

Don't let words limit the possibilities of life.
Alan Watts /

Courage in the path is what makes the path manifest itself.
Paulo Coelho /

Courage in the path is what makes the path manifest itself.

In all things it is better to hope than to despair.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Torquato Tasso /

hope

In all things it is better to hope than to despair.

The usual pretext of those who make others unhappy is that they do it for their own good.
Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues - Reflexions and Maxims /

To be able to discern what is true as true and what is false as false — this is the mark and character of intelligence.
Emanuel Swedenborg /

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.
Francis Bacon - Essays /

sage

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.

All grown-ups were once children (but only few of them remember it).
Antoine de Saint-Exupery - The Little Prince /

All grown-ups were once children (but only few of them remember it).

Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.
Confucius - Analects /

Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.

It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves.
Katherine Mansfield /

It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves.

Often the fear of one evil leads us into a worse.
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux - L'Art poétique /

Change alone is the constant.
Arthur Schopenhauer - Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life /

change

As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery - Citadelle /

future

One should be light like a bird, and not like a feather.
Paul Valéry - Tel quel /

action

One should be light like a bird, and not like a feather.

Background photo by Jan Solà SB on Unsplash

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
Carl Gustav Jung - Memories, Dreams, Reflections /

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

The sun is new each day.
Heraclitus of Ephesus - Fragments /

The sun is new each day.

Whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened by absurdities.
Bertrand Russell - The Problems of Philosophy /

Whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened by absurdities.

The need to be right - the sign of a vulgar mind.
Albert Camus - Carnets /

The need to be right - the sign of a vulgar mind.

Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.
Epictetus - Handbook (Enchiridion) /

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.
Alan Watts - The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety /

I have laboured carefully, not to mock, lament, or execrate, but to understand human actions.
Baruch Spinoza - Tractatus politicus /

I have laboured carefully, not to mock, lament, or execrate, but to understand human actions.

But where the danger is,
also grows the saving power.
Friedrich Hölderlin - Patmos /

danger

But where the danger is,
also grows the saving power.

I have decided to be happy because it's good for my health.
Voltaire - Letter to the Abbé Trublet /

I have decided to be happy because it's good for my health.

Background photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash

The greatest disorder of the mind is to believe certain things because we want them to be such and not because we have seen what they are.
Jacques Bénigne Bossuet - Treatise on the Knowledge of God and of Oneself /

belief

Universal Nature has made reasonable creatures for the sake of one another.
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations /

nature

Universal Nature has made reasonable creatures for the sake of one another.

Amongst democratic nations, each new generation is a new people.
Alexis de Tocqueville - Democracy in America /

Nothing is ever finished ; only a little happiness is needed for everything to begin again.
Émile Zola - Germinal /

happiness

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