Academies that are founded at the public expense are instituted not so much to cultivate men's natural abilities as to restrain them.
enlightenment · rationalism
Spinoza
Baruch Spinoza · 1632–1677 · Dutch
Lens-grinder of Amsterdam. Freedom of teaching, the intellectual love of God, and academies that restrain more than they cultivate.
The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.
Peace is not an absence of war; it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.