1724–1804
Immanuel Kant
The thinker from Königsberg who put reason itself on trial. His entire work is a single demand: think for yourself.
“Have courage to use your own understanding!”
Immanuel Kant · What Is Enlightenment?
“Enlightenment is man's release from his self-imposed immaturity.”
Immanuel Kant · What Is Enlightenment?
“Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”
Immanuel Kant · Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.”
Immanuel Kant · Critique of Practical Reason
“Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never merely as a means.”
Immanuel Kant · Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
“Nothing in the world, nor even beyond it, can possibly be conceived as good without limitation, except a good will.”
Immanuel Kant · Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
“Thinking is speaking with oneself.”
Immanuel Kant · Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View
“The beautiful is the symbol of the morally good.”
Immanuel Kant · Critique of Judgment
“Man can only become man through education.”
Immanuel Kant · On Education
“Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why so many people gladly remain immature for life.”
Immanuel Kant · What Is Enlightenment?
“Dare to use your own understanding.”
Immanuel Kant · An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment?
“Act so that the maxim of your will could always hold as a principle of universal law.”
Immanuel Kant · Critique of Practical Reason
“Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.”
Immanuel Kant · Idea for a Universal History
“Two things fill the mind with ever new wonder: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.”
Immanuel Kant · Critique of Practical Reason
“The human being can become human only through education. He is nothing but what education makes of him.”
Immanuel Kant · On Education
“Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.”
Immanuel Kant · Critique of Pure Reason
“Man is the only creature that must be educated.”
Immanuel Kant · On Education
“The worth of a man lies not in what he owns, but in what he is.”
Immanuel Kant · Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View
Original texts are public domain; the English wording was made for this site. Each quotation names its work.
