Do not imagine that what we have said of the insufficiency of our understanding and of its limited extent is an assertion founded only on the Bible: for philosophers likewise assert the same, and perfectly understand it,- without having regard to any religion or opinion.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the limitations of human understanding, asserting that both religious and philosophical perspectives acknowledge this insufficiency.
Maimonides highlights the shared recognition among both religious texts and philosophical thought regarding the limits of human understanding. He argues that this acknowledgment is not exclusive to any one belief system but is a universal truth recognized across different fields of thought. This reflects a deeper understanding of knowledge, encouraging humility in our pursuit of wisdom and insight.
In practice
In a debate about the nature of knowledge, one might use this quote to illustrate the idea that all thinkers agree on the limits of understanding.
If men possessed wisdom, which stands in the same relation to the form of man as the sight to the eye, they would not cause any injury to themselves or to others; for the knowledge of truth removes hatred and quarrels, and prevents mutual injuries.
There are eight rungs in charity. The highest is when you help a man to help himself.
God who preceded all existence is a refuge.
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.
If the whole earth is infinitely small in comparison with the sphere of the stars, what is man compared with all these created beings!
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.
I laid my face to the smooth face of the marble and howled my loss into the cold salt rain.
No race has a monopoly on vice or virtue, and the worth of an individual is not related to the color of his skin.
Silence is an ornament for women.
She thought it was part of the hardship of her life that there was laid upon her the burthen of larger wants than others seemed to feel – that she had to endure this wide hopeless yearning for that something, whatever it was, that was greatest and best on this earth.
I am truly free only when all human beings, men and women, are equally free. The freedom of other men, far from negating or limiting my freedom, is, on the contrary, its necessary premise and confirmation.
Is discord going to show itself while we are still fighting, is the Jew once again worth less than another? Oh, it is sad, very sad, that once more, for the umpteenth time, the old truth is confirmed: What one Christian does is his own responsibility, what one Jew does is thrown back at all Jews.
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