Baruch Spinoza Quotes
In a free state every man may think what he likes, and say what he thinks.
Spinoza’s ideas were considered so radical and dangerous that he was the only man in history who was excommunicated by the Catholics, the Jews and the Muslims.
Benedict Spinoza, 1632-1677, Dutch Philosopher, Theological-Political Treatise: Chapter 20
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
In 1989 the leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, claimed that Salmon Rushde, a British author and Iranian native, had written a blasphemous book and should therefore be killed. Not all Muslim spiritual leaders agreed:. 6 weeks after making this statement on television, he himself was assassinated.
Ingersoll was considered to be the greatest orator and political thinker of his day, but his overt atheistic views curtailed his elected political career.
Baruch (de) Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Sephardi origin. One of the early thinkers of the Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism, including modern conceptions of the self and the universe, he came to be considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy. Inspired by the groundbreaking ideas of René Descartes, Spinoza became a leading philosophical figure of the Dutch Golden Age. Spinoza's given name, which means "Blessed", varies among different languages. In the Netherlands he used the Portuguese name Bento. In his Latin and Dutch works, he used Latin: Benedictus de Spinoza.
