“A free man thinks of death least of all things; and his wisdom is a meditation not of death but of life.”

— Baruch Spinoza, Ethics, 1677, Part IV, Prop. LXVII

About Baruch Spinoza

1632 – 1677

Dutch philosopher, author of the "Ethics".

“All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.”

“Extreme pride or dejection indicates extreme ignorance of self.”

“The perfection of a thing does not annul its existence, but, on the contrary, asserts it.”

“You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.”

“Men may live fools, but fools they cannot die.”

“Knowledge by suffering entereth, And life is perfected by death.”

“Let us learn from the lips of death the lessons of life.”

“Men of the most brilliant intelligence can be born, live and die in error and falsehood.”

“It is a contest between ignorance and death, or wisdom and life.”