I can always say to myself that my atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their o… - Benedictus de Spinoza

If you want the present to be different from the past, study the past.

I read Spinoza's Ethics for the first time when I was thirteen years old. Of course at school we studied the Bible – which for me is the ultimate philosophical work. However, reading Spinoza opened up a new dimension for me, which is the reason for my continuing dedication to his works. Spinoza's simple principle 'man thinks' has become an existential mindset for me; my copy of his Ethics has become dog-eared and torn. For years I took it with me on my travels and in hotel rooms or intervals in concerts became absorbed by many of its principles. Spinoza's Ethics is the best training ground for the intellect, above all because Spinoza teaches the radical freedom of thought more completely than any other philosopher. This Spinozan brand of freedom is not a release from discipline into arbitrariness of thought, but an active process. The more one is able to determine one's own thoughts – in fact, causing one's own thoughts, thereby creating one's own experience of reality – the more it is possible to become self-determined, to be truly free.

Algunos estoicos, por ejemplo, oyeron casualmente hablar del alma y también de la inmortalidad, cosas que sólo imaginaban confusamente. También imaginaban y percibían por el entendimiento que los cuerpos más sutiles penetran todos los demás y no son penetrados por ninguno.
Imaginando todo eso en conjunto y agregándole la certidumbre del axioma mencionado, estaban seguros desde luego que el espíritu era aquellos cuerpos sutilísimos, que no pueden ser divididos, etc. Igualmente nos libramos de este error mediante el examen de todas nuestras percepciones según la norma de la idea verdadera dada y cuidándonos, como dijimos al comienzo, respecto de las ideas que nos llegan de oídas o por experiencia vaga.