Irish philosopher (1685-1753)
Atheism ... that bugbear of women and fools ... is the very top and perfection of free-thinking. It is the grand arcanum to which a true genius naturally riseth, by a certain climax or gradation of thought, and without which he can never possess his soul in absolute liberty and repose.
GEORGE BERKELEY
Alciphron
Principles early sown in the mind, are the seeds which produce fruit and harvest in the ripe state of manhood.
GEORGE BERKELEY
"A Discourse Addressed to Magistrates and Men in Authority", Works: Account of His Life and Letters
Pull a state to pieces, jumble, confound, and shake together the particles of human society, and then let them stand awhile, and you shall see them settle of themselves in some convenient order, where heavy heads are lowest, and men of genius uppermost.
GEORGE BERKELEY
Alciphron; or, The Minute Philosopher in Seven Dialogues
Others indeed may talk, and write, and fight about liberty, and make an outward pretence to it but the free-thinker alone is truly free.
GEORGE BERKELEY
Alciphron
I had rather be an oyster than a man, the most stupid and senseless of animals.
GEORGE BERKELEY
The Works of George Berkeley
The error of a lively rake lies in his passions, and may be reformed: but the dry rogue, who sets up for judgment, is incorrigible.
GEORGE BERKELEY
Alciphron; or, The Minute Philosopher in Seven Dialogues
He who saith there is no such thing as an honest man, you may be sure is himself a knave.
GEORGE BERKELEY
"Maxims Concerning Patriotism", Works
For no one's authority ought to rank so high as to set a value on his words and terms even though nothing clear and determinate lies behind them.
GEORGE BERKELEY
De Motu
The same principles which at first view lead to scepticism, pursued to a certain point bring men back to common sense.
GEORGE BERKELEY
Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous
Believe me, the world always was, and always will be the same, as long as men are men.
GEORGE BERKELEY
Alciphron; or, The Minute Philosopher in Seven Dialogues
To me it seems that liberty and virtue were made for each other. If any man wish to enslave his country, nothing is a fitter preparative than vice; and nothing leads to vice so surely as irreligion.
GEORGE BERKELEY
The Works of George Berkeley
Weak men, indeed, are prejudiced towards rules and systems in life and government; and think if these are gone all is gone: but a man of a great soul and free spirit delights in the noble experiment of blowing up systems and dissolving governments, to mould them anew upon other principles and in another shape.
GEORGE BERKELEY
Alciphron; or, The Minute Philosopher in Seven Dialogues
A good groom will rather stroke than strike.
GEORGE BERKELEY
"Maxims Concerning Patriotism", Works
When a man dies a world perishes--the world which he bore in his head. The more intelligent the head, the more clear, significant, and comprehensive was its world, the more terrible its destruction.
GEORGE BERKELEY
A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge
Few men think; yet all have opinions.
GEORGE BERKELEY
Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous
Casting an eye on the education of children, from whence I can make a judgment of my own, I observe they are instructed in religious matters before they can reason about them, and consequently that all such instruction is nothing else but filling the tender mind of a child with prejudices.
GEORGE BERKELEY
The Works of George Berkeley
No one loves to tell a tale of scandal, but to him that loves to hear it.
GEORGE BERKELEY
attributed, Day's Collacon
The wheels of government go on, though wound up by different hands.
GEORGE BERKELEY
Alciphron; or, The Minute Philosopher in Seven Dialogues
But where men, to the force of appetite and passion, add that of opinion, and are wicked from principle, there will be more men wicked, and those more incurably and outrageously so.
GEORGE BERKELEY
Alciphron; or, The Minute Philosopher in Seven Dialogues
The primary aim of all religions and philosophical systems is to furnish an antidote to the certainty of death.
GEORGE BERKELEY
A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge