The Wisdom Letter #200

3 quotes from Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677)

✹ For today’s Wisdom Letter, we have carefully curated three bite-sized quotes from the philosopher, Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677), each paired with a philosophical question meant to provoke deep reflection:

Quote № 01:

“Needs must it be hard, since it is so seldom found. How would it be possible, if salvation were ready to our hand, and could without great labor be found, that it should be by almost all men neglected? But all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.”

— Baruch Spinoza

~ Follow-up Question:

Why do we often value things more when they are difficult to achieve, and does this inherent difficulty necessarily correlate with their true worth, or is it a perception shaped by human effort and struggle?

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Quote № 02:

“All laws which can be broken without any injury to another, are counted but a laughing-stock, and are so far from bridling the desires and lusts of men, that on the contrary they stimulate them.”

— Baruch Spinoza

~ Follow-up Question:

Why do laws perceived as unnecessary or unenforceable often incite the very behaviors they aim to control? Does this suggest that human desires are inherently oppositional, or is it a reflection of flawed governance?

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Quote № 03:

“A man would perish of hunger and thirst, if he refused to eat or drink, till he had obtained positive proof that food and drink would be good for him. But in philosophic reflection this is not so. On the contrary, we must take care not to admit as true anything, which is only probable. For when one falsity has been let in, infinite others follow.”

— Baruch Spinoza

~ Follow-up Question:

Is the fear of admitting a single falsehood in philosophical reasoning justified, or can a rigorous process of inquiry correct initial errors without leading to an “infinite” cascade of false beliefs?

✽ Thank you for reading today’s Wisdom Letter.

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