Immanuel Kant Quotes

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) was a highly influential German philosopher whose work remains central to understanding modern Western philosophy, particularly in the areas of ethics, aesthetics, and metaphysics.

 

Here are some famous and impactful Immanuel Kant quotes, often drawn from his major works like Critique of Pure Reason and Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals:

 

On Morality and Duty (The Categorical Imperative)

"Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more intensely the reflection dwells on them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me." (From the Critique of Practical Reason)

"Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end."

"Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

"Nothing can possibly be conceived in the world, or even out of it, which can be called good, without qualification, except a good will."

"Morality is not properly the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness."

"By a lie a man throws away and as it were annihilates his dignity as a man."

On Enlightenment and Reason

"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ['Dare to know!'] Have courage to use your own intelligence! is therefore the motto of the enlightenment."

"All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason."

"Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play."

On Humanity and Life

"Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made."

"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men."

"Rules for happiness: something to do, someone to love, something to hope for."

"We are not rich by what we possess but by what we can do without."