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.”

“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.”

“Revealed religion is one thing, revealed legislation, another.”

“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.”

“הדת שלי, הפילוסופיה שלי ומַעמדי בחיים האזרחיים מספּקים בידי טעמים חשוּבים ביותר להמנע מכל מחלוקת דתית ולדבּר בכּתבים, שאני מפרסם ברבים, רק על אותן האמתּוֹת, שצריכות להיות חשוּבות לכל הדתוֹת בשווה.”

“הדת האלוהית האמיתית אינה לוקחת לעצמה את הסמכות על דעות ושיפוטים... היא אינה מכירה בשום כוח מלבד הכוח לעשות נפשות באמצעות נימוקים, לשכנע את האנשים ולעשותם מאושרים בדרך של שכנוע פנימי. הדת האלוהית האמיתית אינה זקוקה לזרוע או לאצבע, היא כל כולה רוח ולב.”

“מי שאינו מפריע לאושר הציבורי, מי שפועל באופן הגון כלפי החוקים האזרחיים, כלפיכם וכלפי עמיתיו האזרחים הניחו לו לומר את שהוא חושב, הניחו לו לפנות לאלוהים בדרך שלו או בדרך של אבותיו ולתור אחר הישועה הנצחית היכן שהוא חושב שימצא אותה.”

“לשווא נושאות התבונה והאנושיות את קולן, כיוון שלדעות קדומות שהזדקנו אין חוש שמיעה.”

“מדהים לראות כיצד הדעה הקדומה לובשת בכל מאה צורה שונה.”

“A God is thinkable, therefore a God is also actually present.”

“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.”

“The analysis of concepts is for the understanding nothing more than what the magnifying glass is for sight.”

“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.”

“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.”

“I am, therefore there is a God.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“The state has physical power and uses it when necessary; the power of religion is love and beneficence.”

“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.”