99 Quotes by Jacques Maritain

The sole philosophy open to those who doubt the possibility of truth is absolute silence -- even mental.

Authentic Christianity has a horror of the pessimism of inertia. It is pessimist, profoundly pessimist in the sense that it knows that the creature comes from nothingness, and that all that issues from nothing essentially tends of itself to return to nothing: but it's optimism is incomparably deeper than it's pessimism; for it knows that the creature comes from God, and all that comes from God tends to return to Him.

Since art is a virtue of the intellect, it demands to communicate with the entire universe of the intellect. Hence it is that the normal climate of art is intelligence and knowledge: its normal soil, the civilized heritage of a consistent and integrated system of beliefs and values; its normal horizon , the infinity of human experience enlighted by the passionate insight of anguish or the intellectual virtues of a contemplative mind.

In periods when shallow speculation is rife, one might think that metaphysics would shine forth, at least, by the brilliance of its modest reserve. But the very age that is unaware of the majesty of metaphysics, likewise overlooks its poverty. Its majesty? It is wisdom. Its poverty? It is human science.

The spiritual experience of the philosopher is the nourishing soil of philosophy; that without it there is no philosophy; and that, even so, spiritual experience does not, or must not, enter into the intelligible texture of philosophy. The pulp of the fruit must consist of nothing but the truth.

človek si musí teda sám pre seba určiť, ktoré najvyššie dobro je jeho šťastím. musí si zvoliť svoje šťastie, alebo teda najvyššie dobro, a osud jeho mravného života závisí na tom, či jeho voľba je alebo nie je v zhode s tým, čo v takom prípade požaduje pravda

v tomto zmysle práve tak ako "umenie pre umenie" neuznáva prosto a jednoducho svet mravnosti a hodnoty ľudského života a to, že umelec je ČLOVEK, tak ani heslo "umenie pre ľudí" neuznáva prosto a jednoducho svet umenia samotného a hodnoty tvorivého intelektu a to, že umelec je UMELCOM.

poézia je nutná práve do tej miery, nakoľko je neužitočná a slobodná, pretože ľuďom prináša zjavenie skutočnosti mimo skutočnosť, skúsenosť skrytých významov vecí, tajomné spoločenstvo so svetom krásy, bez ktorého ľudia nemôžu ani žiť, ani viesť mravný život.

Platón tvrdil, že filozof musí filozofovať celou svojou dušou (aj keď vlastným orgánom filozofie je iba rozum). to isté môžeme povedať o umelcovi.