Top 22 Maimonides Quotes

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He, however, who begins with Metaphysics, will not only

He, however, who begins with Metaphysics, will not only become confused in matters of religion, but will fall into complete infidelity.
Maimonides
To the totality of purposes of the perfect Law there belong the abandonment, depreciation, and restraint of desires in so far as possible.
Maimonides
Teach thy tongue to say ‘I do not know’, and thou shalt progress.
Maimonides
Man’s shortcomings and sins are all due to substance of the body and not to its form, while all his merits are exclusively due to his form.
Maimonides
The whole object of the Prophets and the Sages was to declare that a limit is set to human reason where it must halt.
Maimonides
While one man can discover a certain thing by himself, another is never able to understand it, even if taught by means of all possible expressions and metaphors, and during a long period; his mind can in no way grasp it, his capacity is insufficient for it.
Maimonides
Consequently he who wishes to attain to human perfection, must therefore first study Logic, next the various branches of Mathematics in their proper order, then Physics, and lastly Metaphysics.
Maimonides
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.
Maimonides
When man possesses a good, sound body that does not overpower him nor disturb the equilibrium in him, he possesses a divine gift. In short, a good constitution facilitates the rule of the soul over the body, but it is not impossible to conquer a bad constitution by training.
Maimonides
However great the exertion of our mind may be to comprehend the Divine Being or any of the ideals, we find a screen and partition between Him and ourselves. Thus the prophets frequently hint at the existence of a partition between God and us.
Maimonides
Anticipate charity by preventing poverty.
Maimonides
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.
Maimonides
The numerous evils to which individual persons are exposed are due to the defects existing in the persons themselves. We complain and seek relief from our own faults; 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!
Maimonides
Further, there are things of which the mind understands one part, but remains ignorant of the other; and when man is able to comprehend certain things, it does not follow that he must be able to comprehend everything.
Maimonides
If the whole earth is infinitely small in comparison with the sphere of the stars, what is man compared with all these created beings!
Maimonides
You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes.
Maimonides
If a person studies too much and exhausts his reflective powers, he will be confused, and will not be able to apprehend even that which had been within the power of his apprehension. For the powers of the body are all alike in this respect.
Maimonides
Transient bodies are only subject to destruction through their substance and not through their form, nor can the essence of their form be destroyed; in this respect, they are permanent.
Maimonides
You will certainly not doubt the necessity of studying astronomy and physics, if you are desirous of comprehending the relation between the world and Providence as it is in reality, and not according to imagination.
Maimonides
No disease that can be treated by diet should be treated with any other means.
Maimonides
Now, we occupy a lowly position, both in space and rank in comparison with the heavenly sphere, and the Almighty is Most High not in space, but with respect to absolute existence, greatness and power.
Maimonides
One should see the world, and see himself as a scale with an equal balance of good and evil. When he does one good deed the scale is tipped to the good – he and the world is saved. When he does one evil deed the scale is tipped to the bad – he and the world is destroyed.
Maimonides