Friday Philosophy

Today's quotation comes from the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), who employed scientific principles to the evaluation of moral and even religious ideas. This is at least hinted at in this line from his work on ethics:

"Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but
virtue itself; neither do we rejoice therein, because
we control our lusts, but, contrariwise, because we
rejoice therein, we are able to control our lusts."