Nicolas Malebranche Quotes & Sayings

“We are made to know and love God.”

“Just as our eyes need light in order to see, our minds need ideas in order to conceive.”

“As our bodies live upon the earth and find sustenance in the fruits which it produces, so our minds feed on the same truths as the intelligible and immutable substance of the divine Word contains.”

“You will not dishonor the divine perfections by judgments unworthy of them, provided you never judge of Him by yourself, provided you do not ascribe to the Creator the imperfections and limitations of created beings.”

“He has willed - He wills incessantly - that the modifications of the mind and those of the body shall be reciprocal. This is the conjunction and the natural dependence of the two parts of which we are constituted.”

“Do not fear lest you should meditate too much upon Him and speak of Him in an unworthy way, providing you are led by faith. Do not fear lest you should entertain false opinions of Him so long as they are in conformity with the notion of the infinitely perfect Being.”

“Our soul is not united to our body in the ordinary sense of these terms. It is immediately and directly united to God alone.”

“Prejudices are not easily got rid of as an old coat which is no longer thought of.”

“You find yourself in the world, without any power, immovable as a rock, stupid, so to speak, as a log of wood.”

“I love good and pleasure, I hate evil and pain, I want to be happy and I am not mistaken in believing, that people, angels and even demons have those same inclinations.”