True knowledge of good and ...

True knowledge of good and evil as we possess is merely abstract or general, and the judgment which we pass on the order of things and the connection of causes, with a view to determining what is good or bad for us in the present, is rather imaginary than real.
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 Baruch Spinoza

Quotes from the same author

Academies that are founded at public expense are instituted not so much to cultivate men's natural abilities as to restrain them.
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 Baruch Spinoza
Happiness is not the reward of virtue, but is virtue itself; nor do we delight in happiness because we restrain from our lusts; but on the contrary, because we delight in it, therefore we are able to restrain them.
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 Baruch Spinoza
For peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from force of character: for obedience is the constant will to execute what, by the general decree of the commonwealth, ought to be done.
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 Baruch Spinoza
Peace is not the absence of war, but a virtue based on strength of character.
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 Baruch Spinoza
In the mind there is no absolute or free will; but the mind is determined to wish this or that by a cause, which has also been determined by another cause, and this last by another cause, and so on to infinity.
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 Baruch Spinoza