All thought must, directly or indirectly, by way of certain characters, relate ultimately to intuitions, and therefore, with us, to sensibility, because in no other way can an object be given to us.
The only objects of practical reason are therefore those of good and evil. For by the former is meant an object necessarily desired according to a principle of reason; by the latter one necessarily shunned, also according to a principle of reason.
Beneficence is a duty.
The nice thing about living in a small town is that when you don’t know what you’re doing, someone else does.
A lie is the abandonment and, as it were, the annihilation of the dignity by man.
Sincerity is the indispensable ground of all conscientiousness, and by consequence of all heartfelt religion.
Reason can never prove the existence of God.
When a thoughtful human being has overcome incentives to vice and is aware of having done his bitter duty, he finds himself in a state that could be called happiness, a state of contentment and peace of mind in which virtue is its own reward.
Act in such a way that you will be worthy of being happy.
Happiness, though an indefinite concept, is the goal of all rational beings.
Great minds think for themselves.
Prudence reproaches; conscience accuses.
The light dove, cleaving the air in her free flight, and feeling its resistance, might imagine that its flight would be still easier in empty space.
Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.
All false art, all vain wisdom, lasts its time but finally destroys itself, and its highest culture is also the epoch of its decay.
Better the whole people perish than that injustice be done.
Three things tell a man: his eyes, his friends and his favorite quotes.
Everything in nature acts in conformity with law.
Melancholy characterizes those with a superb sense of the sublime.
It is by his activities and not by enjoyment that man feels he is alive. In idleness we not only feel that life is fleeting, but we also feel lifeless.