Baruch Spinoza

"He alone is free who lives with free consent under the entire guidance of reason."

"If men were born free, they would, so long as they remained free, form no conception of good and evil."

"Nothing in the universe is contingent, but all things are conditioned to exist and operate in a particular manner by the necessity of the divine nature."

"One and the same thing can at the same time be good, bad, and indifferent, e.g., music is good to the melancholy, bad to those who mourn, and neither good nor bad to the deaf."

"Only that thing is free which exists by the necessities of its own nature, and is determined in its actions by itself alone."

"Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice."

"Peace is not the absence of war, but a virtue based on strength of character."

"The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free."

"The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak."

"To give aid to every poor man is far beyond the reach and power of every man. Care of the poor is incumbent on society as a whole."

"Whatsoever is contrary to nature is contrary to reason, and whatsoever is contrary to reason is absurd."