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

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

About Baruch Spinoza

1632 – 1677

Dutch philosopher, author of the "Ethics".

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

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

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

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.”

“One must learn to know oneself before knowing anything else.”

“Wouldst thou other men know, look thou within thine own heart.”

“Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and shun evil.”

“It is easier to be wise for others than for oneself.”

“To know one's self, one must go all the way to horror.”