"Human reason is by nature architectonic."
"Human reason has this peculiar fate that in one species of its knowledge
it is burdened by questions which, as prescribed by the very nature of
reason itself, it is not able to ignore, but which, as transcending all its
powers, it is also not able to answer."
"Criticism alone can sever the root of materialism, fatalism, atheism, free-thinking,
fanaticism, and superstition, which can be injurious universally; as well as of
idealism and skepticism, which are dangerous chiefly to the
Schools, and hardly allow of being handed on to the public." from CRITIQUE OF PRACTICAL REASON
"The inscrutable wisdom through which we exist is not less worthy of
veneration in respect to what it denies us than in respect to what it has
granted."from THE SCIENCE OF RIGHT
"The universal and lasting establishment of peace constitutes not
merely a part, but the whole final purpose and end of the science of right as viewed within
the limits of reason." from FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THE METAPHYSICS OF ETHICS
"To be beneficent when we can is a duty; and besides this, there are many minds so
sympathetically constituted that, without any other motive of vanity or
self-interest, they find a pleasure in spreading joy around them, and can take
delight in the satisfaction of others so far as it is their own work. But I maintain
that in such a case an action of this kind, however proper, however amiable it may
be, has nevertheless no true moral worth, but is on a level with other inclinations.
... For the maxim lacks the moral import, namely, that such actions be done from
duty, not from inclination."
"...as to moral feeling, this supposed special sense, the appeal to it is indeed
superficial when those who cannot think believe that feeling will help them out,
even in what concerns general laws: and besides, feelings which naturally differ
infinitely in degree cannot furnish a uniform standard of good and evil, nor has
any one a right to form judgments for others by his own feelings..."
"Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will a
general natural law."