Moses Mendelssohn Quotes & Sayings

The principal axiom in their theory was: Everything can be proved, and everything can be disproved; and in the process, one must profit as much from the folly of others, and from his own superiority, as he can. — Moses Mendelssohn

I fear that, in the end, the famous debate among materialists, idealists, and dualists amounts to a merely verbal dispute that is more a matter for the linguist than for the speculative philosopher. — Moses Mendelssohn

Socrates' fame spread all over Greece, and the most respected and educated men from all around came to him, in order to enjoy his friendly company and instruction. — Moses Mendelssohn

You know how much I am inclined to explain all disputes among philosophical schools as merely verbal disputes or at least to derive them originally from verbal disputes. — Moses Mendelssohn

We would be able neither to remember nor to reflect nor to compare nor to think, indeed, we would not even be the person who we were a moment ago, if our concepts were divided among many and were not to be encountered somewhere together in their most exact combination. — Moses Mendelssohn

The state dictates and coerces; religion teaches and persuades. The state enacts laws; religion gives commandments. The state is armed with physical force and makes use of it if need be; the force of religion is love and benevolence. — Moses Mendelssohn

When Socrates was about 30, and his father was long dead, he was still pursuing the art of sculpture, but from necessity, and without much inclination. — Moses Mendelssohn

Consciousness of myself, combined with complete ignorance of everything that does not fall within my sphere of thinking, is the most telling proof of my substantiality outside God, of my original existence. — Moses Mendelssohn

Instead, it appears to be a particular mark of beauty that it is considered with tranquil satisfaction; that it pleases if we also do not possess it and we are still far removed from demanding to possess it. — Moses Mendelssohn

Reader! To whatever visible church, synagogue, or mosque you may belong! See if you do not find more true religion among the host of the excommunicated than among the far greater host who excommunicated them. — Moses Mendelssohn

The analysis of concepts is for the understanding nothing more than what the magnifying glass is for sight. — Moses Mendelssohn

Time is a part of eternity, and of the same piece with it. — Moses Mendelssohn

Judaism was not a religion but a law. — Moses Mendelssohn

My religion recognizes no obligation to resolve doubt other than through rational means; and it commands no mere faith in eternal truths — Moses Mendelssohn

The state has physical power and uses it when necessary; the power of religion is love and beneficence. — Moses Mendelssohn

A God is thinkable, therefore a God is also actually present. — Moses Mendelssohn

Socrates didn't care to visit the theater, as a rule, except when the plays of Euripides (which some think, he himself had helped to compose), were performed. — Moses Mendelssohn

Both state and church have as their object actions as well as convictions, the former insofar as they are based on the relations between man and nature, the latter insofar as they are based on the relations between nature and God. — Moses Mendelssohn

I am, therefore there is a God. — Moses Mendelssohn

For a game it is too serious, for seriousness too much of a game. — Moses Mendelssohn

Revealed religion is one thing, revealed legislation, another. — Moses Mendelssohn

Judaism boasts of no exclusive revelation of eternal truths that are indispensable to salvation, of no revealed religion in the sense in which that term is usually understood. — Moses Mendelssohn