Moses Maimonides - Collected Quotes

“[…] 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.” (Moses Maimonides, “The Guide for the Perplexed”, 1190)

 

 “Know that the figures employed by prophets are of two kinds: first, where every word which occurs in the simile represents a certain idea: and secondly, where the simile, as a whole, represents a general idea, but has a great many points which have no reference whatever to that idea: they are simply required to give to the simile its proper form and order, or better to conceal the idea: the simile is therefore continued as far as necessary, according to its literal sense.” (Moses Maimonides, “The Guide for the Perplexed”, 1190)

 

“No form remains permanently in a substance; a constant change takes place, one form is taken off and another is put on.” (Moses Maimonides, “The Guide for the Perplexed”, 1190) 

 

“Part of the functions of the imaginative faculty is, as you well know, to retain impressions by the senses, to combine them, and chiefly to form images." (Moses Maimonides, “Guide of the Perplexed”, 1190 [translated by Michael Friedländer, 1904])

“When you understand physics, you have entered the hall; and when, after completing the study of natural philosophy, you master metaphysics, you have entered the innermost court and are with the king in the same palace.” (Moses Maimonides, “The Guide for the Perplexed”, 1190)

 

“In the beginning we must simplify the subject, thus unavoidably falsifying it, and later we must sophisticate away the falsely simple beginning.” (Moses Maimonides)

 

“Man knows only these poor mathematical theories about the heavens, and only God knows the real motions of the heavens and their causes.” (Moses Maimonides) 

"Those who observe the nature of the Universe and the commandments of the Law, and know their purpose, see clearly God's mercy and truth in everything; they seek, therefore, that which the Creator intended to be the aim of man, viz., comprehension."  (Moses Maimonides)