“Of all the things that are beyond my power, I value nothing more highly than to be allowed the honor of entering into bonds of friendship with people who sincerely love truth. For, of things beyond our power, I believe there is nothing in the world which we can love with tranquility except such men.”

Dutch Republic philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, 17th century

Baruch Spinoza, also known by the Latin name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a Dutch Republic philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin who lived in the 17th century. He is known as a forerunner of the Enlightenment and as one of the most important and radical thinkers of the early modern period. Spinoza helped shape modern biblical criticism, 17th-century rationalism, and Dutch intellectual culture. His thought was influenced by Stoicism, Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes, and heterodox Christians, and he became a leading philosopher of the Dutch Golden Age.