The idea of an object is the idea of its effects, of what it will do, and of what will happen to it, under various conditions. - Otis Hamilton Lee

The philosophy of Hegel shares two traits with the thought of the great moderns who preceded him: a conscious concern with method, and the application of method to the construction of a philosophical system. In these respects Hegel profited by the efforts of his predecessors, in that he saw clearly the great common danger of method and system; namely, that both have a tendency to narrowness.

The observer who follows, from a distance, events in contemporary Germany experiences above all a feeling of disbelief.

Philosophy is the attempt to formulate principles or categories which the philosopher already possesses, in common with everyone else, but in an unformulated state.