Immanuel Kant citáty

page 7

„Všetko naše poznanie začína zmyslami, pokračuje pochopením a končí dôvodom.“

„Človek, ktorý prejavuje krutosť voči zvieratám, nie je o nič menej zatvrdnutý ani voči ľuďom. Ľudské srdce môžeme spoznávať aj vo vzťahu k zvieratám.“

„Muž je žiarlivý, keď miluje; žena i keď nemiluje.“

„Keby ľudia boli schopní navzájom si čítať myšlienky, vyhýbali by sa jeden druhému.“

„Ženy sú ako španielske domy. Majú veľa dverí a málo okien. Je ľahšie vniknúť do ich sŕdc, ako do nich nahliadnuť.“

„Proti trampotám života dal Boh človeku tri veci - nádej, spánok a smiech.“

„Nebo obdarilo ľudí na zmiernenie útrap života tromi vecami - nádejou, spánkom a smiechom.“

„Najmenej sa boja smrti tí, ktorých život má najväčšiu cenu.“

„Vnímajme život ako detskú hru, v ktorej ide len o čestnosť, dobré srdce, a povinnosť voči sebe samému.“

„Pozitívne dobro, ktoré môžu vlády vykonať, je obmedzené na odstraňovanie prekážok k dobrému životu.“

„Človeka, ktorý si zlomil nohu, môžeme v jeho nešťastí trochu utešiť, keď mu pripomenieme, že si mohol rovnako dobre zlomiť väzy.“

„Ženská osobnosť je ako more - rozochveje ju najslabší závan a pritom unesie najťažšie bremená.“

„Keď sa úprimne a dôkladne porovnávame s mravným zákonom, s jeho posvätnosťou a prísnosťou, musí z toho nevyhnutne plynúť opravdivá pokora. Avšak to, že sme schopní takéhoto vnútorného zákonodarstva, že fyzický človek sa cíti nútený uctiť si vo svojej vlastnej osobe morálneho človeka, ho zároveň povznáša a dáva mu to najvyššie sebaocenie ako pocit jeho vnútornej hodnoty, na základe ktorej nie je za žiadnu cenu podkupný a má nepomíňajúcu sa hodnotu, čo mu vštepuje úctu voči sebe samému.“

„Jednou z najväčších a najčistejších radostí je oddych po práci.“

„Prvou starosťou človeka by nemalo byť šťastie, ale to, aby bol toho šťastia hodný.“

„Keď sa to vezme v celku, čím sú ľudia civilizovanejší, tým sú väčší herci.“

„Aj tá najúprimnejšia žena skrýva na dne svojho srdca nejaké tajomstvo.“

„Neschopnosť utvoriť si úsudok je vlastne to, čomu hovoríme hlúposť a proti tomuto neduhu niet pomoci.“

„Nevyhnutnými podmienkami čistého rozumu sú - Boh, sloboda a nesmrteľnosť.“

„Nie sme na svete preto, aby sme boli šťastní, ale preto, aby sme plnili svoje povinnosti.“

„Čím máme viac lásky, tým sa ľahšie pretĺkame svetom.“

„Človek je jediný živočích, ktorý musí pracovať.“

„Prečítal som v živote mnoho múdrych a dobrých kníh. Ani v jednej som však nenašiel nič, čo by ma tak uspokojilo a potešilo moje srdce, ako tieto slová 23. žalmu: "Ty, Pane, si so mnou."“

„Vedieť, načo by bolo rozumné sa opýtať, je veľký a potrebný dôkaz inteligencie a pochopenia.“

„Človek sa nemôže stať človekom iba vychovaním.“

„Lekári si myslia, že ktovieako pomohli chorému, keď chorobe dali vhodné meno.“

„Ušľachtilý človek trpí utrpením druhých, ako by bol za nich zodpovedný.“

„Dobré činy len kvôli návyku prestávajú byť cnosťou. Dobro je len to, čo robíme zámerne.“

„Bez entuziazmu sa vo svete nič veľkého nevykonalo.“

„Milovať blížneho znamená rád plniť každú povinnosť, ktorú voči nemu mám.“

„Je možné, že nie všetko je pravda, čo človek za pravdu považuje, ale vo všetkom, čo hovorí, musí byť pravdovravný.“

„Manželstvo, to je spojenie dvoch osôb rozličného pohlavia k celoživotnému vzájomnému vlastnení svojich sexuálnych vlastností.“

„Môže byť niečo zvrátenejšie, ako hovoriť deťom o inom svete, keď sotva prišli na tento svet?“

„Múdreho možno ľahko presvedčiť, hlupáka len horko-ťažko prehovoriť.“

„Na človeku je jedine dobré - jeho dobrá vôľa.“

„Nedospelosť je neschopnosť používať svoj rozum bez cudzieho vedenia.“

„Niet nič praktickejšie ako dobrá teória.“

„Okrem dobrého úmyslu na svete niet ničoho, čo by bolo možno akceptovať bez výhrady.“

„Ženy jsou jako španělské domy. Mají mnoho dveří a málo oken. Je snažší uniknout do jejich srdcí, než do nich nahlédnout.“

„Vychovávanie je najväčší a najťažší problém, ktorý je možno človeku uložiť.“

„Nemáme do činenia s inými predmetmi ako tými, ktoré patria k možnej skúsenosti, lebo ak nám nemôžu byť dané v nijakej skúsenosti, potom sú pre nás ničím.“

„Akákoľvek sila sa pozná len vďaka prekážkam, ktoré dokáže prekonať.“

„Maj aj odvahu používať svoj vlastný rozum.“

„Posudzuj podľa takých zásad, o ktorých si presvedčený, že by bolo dobré, aby sa stali všeobecným zákonom.“

„Šťastie nie je ideálom rozumu, ale predstavivosti.“

“Through failures one becomes intelligent; but the one who has trained himself in this subject so that he can make others wise through their own failures, has used his intelligence. Ignorance is not stupidity.”

“A mind of slow apprehension is therefore not necessarily a weak mind. The one who is alert with abstractions is not always profound, he is more often very superficial.”

“The guidelines for achieving wisdom consist of three leading maxims: 1) Think for yourself; 2) (in communication with other people) Put yourself in the place of the other person; 3) Always think by remaining faithful to your own self.”

“[T]o require that a so-called layman should not use his own reason in religious matters, particularly since religion is to be appreciated as moral, but instead follow the appointed clergyman and thus someone else's reason, is an unjust demand because as to morals every man must account for all his doings. The clergyman will not and even cannot assume such a responsibility.”

“Young man! Deny yourself satisfaction (of amusement, of debauchery, of love, etc.), not with the Stoical intention of complete abstinence, but with the refined Epicurean intention of having in view an ever-growing pleasure. This stinginess with the cash of your vital urge makes you definitely richer through the postponement of pleasure, even if you should, for the most part, renounce the indulgence of it until the end of your life. The awareness of having pleasure under your control is, like everything idealistic, more fruitful and more abundant than everything that satisfies the sense through indulgence because it is thereby simultaneously consumed and consequently lost from the aggregate of totality.”

“Collectively, the more civilized men are, the more they are actors. They assume the appearance of attachment, of esteem for others, of modesty, and of disinterestedness, without ever deceiving anyone, because everyone understands that nothing sincere is meant. Persons are familiar with this, and it is even a good thing that this is so in this world, for when men play these roles, virtues are gradually established, whose appearance had up until now only been affected. These virtues ultimately will become part of the actor's disposition. To deceive the deceiver in ourselves, or the tendency to deceive, is a fresh return to obedience”

“Habit... makes the endurance of evil easy (which, under the name of patience, is falsely honored as a virtue), because sensations of the same type, when continued without alteration for a long time, draw our attention away from the senses so that we are scarcely conscious of them at all. On the other hand, habit also makes the consciousness and the remembrance of good that has been received more difficult, which then gradually leads to ingratitude (a real vice). [...] Acquired habit deprives good actions of their moral value because it undermines mental freedom and, moreover, it leads to thoughtless repetitions of the same acts (monotony), and thus becomes ridiculous.”

“What vexations there are in the external customs which are thought to belong to religion, but which in reality are related to ecclesiastical form! The merits of piety have been set up in such away that the ritual is of no use at all except for the simple submission of the believers to ceremonies and observances, expiations and mortifications (the more the better). But such compulsory services, which are mechanically easy (because no vicious inclination is thus sacrificed), must be found morally very difficult and burdensome to the rational man. When, therefore, the great moral teacher said, 'My commandments are not difficult,' he did not mean that they require only limited exercise of strength in order to be fulfilled. As a matter of fact, as commandments which require pure dispositions of the heart, they are the hardest that can be given. Yet, for a rational man, they are nevertheless infinitely easier to keep than the commandments involving activity which accomplishes nothing... [since] the mechanically easy feels like lifting hundredweights to the rational man when he sees that all the energy spent is wasted.”

“The woman wants to dominate, the man wants to be dominated”

“[T]his species works intentionally on its own destruction (by war). This, however, does not keep the rational creatures of such a constantly advancing culture, even in the midst of war, from promising to mankind in coming centuries an unequivocal prospect of bliss which will never end.”

“[W]hat alone has value is the use to which life is put and the end to which it is directed. The value of life has to be created by man, it cannot be obtained through luck but only through wisdom. He who is anxiously concerned over losing his life will never enjoy life.”

“[T]he first characteristic of the human species is man's ability, as a rational being, to establish character for himself, as well as for the society into which nature has placed him. This ability, however, presupposes an already favorable natural predisposition and an inclination to the good in man, because the evil is really without character”

“England and France, the two most civilized nations on earth, who are in contrast to each other because of their different characters, are, perhaps chiefly for that reason, in constant feud with one another. Also, England and France, because of their inborn characters, of which the acquired and artificial character is only the result, are probably the only nations who can be assumed to have a particular and, as long as both national characters are not blended by the force of war, unalterable characteristics. That French has become the universal language of conversation, especially in the feminine world, and that English is the most widely used language of commerce among tradesmen, probably reflects the difference in their continental and insular geographic situation.”

“Nature made women mature early and had them demand gentle and polite treatment from men, so that they would find themselves imperceptibly fettered by a child due to their own magnanimity; and they would find themselves brought, if not quite to morality itself, then at least to that which cloaks it, moral behavior, which is the preparation and introduction to morality.”

“All... good and useful properties of character have a price in exchange for others which have just as much use. Talent has a market price, since the sovereign or estate-owner can use a talented person in all sorts of ways. Temperament has a fancy price,22 since one can converse well with such a person; he is a pleasant companion. But, character has an inner value[,] and it is above all price.”

“The man of principles has character. Of him we know definitely what to expect. He does not act on the basis of his instinct, but on the basis of his will. Therefore, without being redundant one can classify characteristics according to a person's faculty of desire (what is practical), as a) his nature, or natural talent, b) his temperament, or disposition, and c) his general character, or mode of thinking.”

“Money is the password, and all doors, which are closed to the man of lesser means, fly open to those whom Plutus favors. The invention of money, which has no other usefulness (or at least it should not have any) except for the commercial exchange of the products of man's industry, now serves all that is physically good among men. Especially after money was represented by metal, it has produced avarice which, finally, without indulgence, but by its mere possession, and even with the resolution (of the stingy) not to spend it, still contains a power which people believe can sufficiently compensate for the lack of any other power.”

“Whatever, over and above good life-conduct, man fancies that he can do to become well-pleasing to God is mere religious delusion.”

“One who makes himself a worm cannot complain afterwards if people step on him.”