Portrait of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Calculus, optimism

Early Modern influential 126 sayings

Sayings by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

The happier the man, the less he needs to be amused; like a healthy man who does not need to be drugged.

Unknown — From his philosophical fragments.
Wisdom Unverifiable

I have said more than once that I would give all my books to have the fame of having discovered a single useful truth for the good of mankind.

Unknown — Attributed statement on his practical ambitions.
Educational Unverifiable

The nature of the monad is representative; consequently, nothing can limit it to represent only a part of things.

1714 — From 'Monadology'.
Art & Creativity Unverifiable

It is a great evil to be in doubt about the most important things.

1704 — From his 'New Essays on Human Understanding'.
Life & Death Unverifiable

Justice is nothing else than the charity of the wise.

1702-1703 — From his 'Meditation on the Common Concept of Justice'.
Justice & Rights Unverifiable

Every present state of a simple substance is a natural consequence of its preceding state, in such a way that its present is big with its future.

1714 — From 'Monadology'.
Wisdom Unverifiable

I have found that most of the sects are right in a good part of what they assert, but not so much in what they deny.

Unknown — A variation on his syncretic view, found in his correspondence.
Art & Creativity Unverifiable

To be is to be one.

Unknown — A concise statement of his metaphysical principle of unity.
Wisdom Unverifiable

There is a world of creatures, living beings, animals, entelechies, souls, in the least part of matter.

1714 — From 'Monadology', describing the infinite complexity of the universe.
Biblical Unverifiable

The mind is not a tabula rasa but a block of marble which has veins, and these veins determine the shape that the statue can take.

1704 — A metaphor from 'New Essays on Human Understanding', opposing Locke's blank slate.
Wisdom Unverifiable

The true method of advancing the sciences is to first lay solid foundations.

1677 — From his preface to 'General Science'.
Educational Unverifiable

I have said that the soul is a little world where distinct ideas represent God and confused ones represent the universe.

Unknown — From his correspondence.
Biblical Unverifiable

For the glory of God is the ultimate end of all things.

Unknown — A recurring theme in his theological writings.
Biblical Unverifiable

It's easier to be original and foolish than original and wise.

Unknown, likely 17th-18th century — General philosophical observation
General Unverifiable

The pleasure we obtain from music comes from counting, but counting unconsciously. Music is nothing but unconscious arithmetic.

1703 (approx.) — From a letter to Johann Bernoulli
General Unverifiable

I do not like X as a symbol for multiplication, as it is easily confounded with x.

1698 — Letter to Johann Bernoulli
General Unverifiable

There is nothing without a reason.

Late 17th century — Principle of Sufficient Reason, foundational to his philosophy
General Unverifiable

The present is saturated with the past and pregnant with the future.

Unknown, likely late 17th - early 18th century — General philosophical observation
General Confirmed

There are two kinds of truths: those of reasoning and those of fact.

1710 — Philosophical distinction in epistemology
General Unverifiable

Nothing is necessitated whose opposite is possible.

1686 — Argument against absolute determinism
General Confirmed
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