Maimonides Quotes

Actions are divided as regards their object into four classes; they are either purposeless , unimportant , or vain , or good .

Medical practice is not knitting and weaving and the labor of the hands, but it must be inspired with soul and be filled with understanding and equipped with the gift of keen observation . . .

Inspire me with love for my art and for thy creatures. In the sufferer let me see only the human being.

The question, "What is the purpose thereof?" cannot be asked about anything which is not the product of an agent; therefore we cannot ask what is the purpose of the existence of God.

Astrology is a sickness, not a science ... It is a tree under the shade of which all sorts of superstitions thrive.

It is of great advantage that man should know his station, and not imagine that the whole universe exists only for him.

No form remains permanently in a substance; a constant change takes place, one form is taken off and another is put on.

Hold firmly to your word.

We suffer from the evils which we, by our own free will, inflict on ourselves and ascribe them to God, who is far from being connected with them!

You must consider, when reading this treatise, that mental perception, because connected with matter, is subject to conditions similar to those to which physical perception is subject.

I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be his name, is not a body, and that he is free from all accidents of matter, and that he has not any form whatsoever.

Do not imagine that these most difficult problems can be thoroughly understood by any one of us.

The great sickness and the grievous evil consist in this: that all the things that man finds written in books, he presumes to think of as true-and all the more so if the books are old.

Astrology is a disease, not a science.

The philosophers likewise assume that in Nature there is nothing in vain, so that everything that is not the product of human industry serves a certain purpose, which may be known or unknown to us.

Hear the truth from whomever says it

For every force charged by God, may He be exalted, with some business is an angel put in charge.

In accordance with the divine wisdom, genesis can only take place through destruction.

All forces that reside in the body are angels.

Be convinced that, if man were able to reach the end without preparatory studies, such studies would not be preparatory but tiresome and utterly superfluous.

God is identical with His attributes, so that it may be said that He is the knowledge, the knower, and the known.

All this is applicable to the intellectual faculties of man. There is a considerable difference between one person and another as regards these faculties, as is well known to philosophers.

The true work of God is all good, since it is existence.

The whole object of the Prophets and the Sages was to declare that a limit is set to human reason where it must halt.

The same is the case with those opinions of man to which he has been accustomed from his youth; he likes them, defends them, and shuns the opposite views.

The key to the understanding and to the full comprehension of all that the Prophets have said is found in the knowledge of the figures, their general ideas, and the meaning of each word they contain.

Every man whose character traits all lie in the mean is called a wise man.

Man's shortcomings and sins are all due to the substance of the body and not to its form; while all his merits are exclusively due to his form.

Astrology is a disease, not a science... It is a tree under the shadow of which all sorts of superstitions thrive. ... Only fools and charlatans lend value to it.

The first kind of evil is that which is caused to man by the circumstance that he is subject to genesis and destruction, or that he possesses a body.

The being which has absolute existence, which has never been and will never be without existence, is not in need of an agent.

Management [ Providence ], knowledge, and intention are not the same when ascribed to us and when ascribed to God.

For that which is without a beginning, a final cause need not be sought.

Those who grieve find comfort in weeping and in arousing their sorrow until the body is too tired to bear the inner emotions.

All attributes ascribed to God are attributes of His acts, and do not imply that God has any qualities.

If one avoids haughtiness to the utmost extent and is exceedingly humble, he is termed a saint, and this is the standard of saintliness.

The person who wishes to attain human perfection should study logic first, next mathematics, then physics, and, lastly, metaphysics.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.