"Surely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak. But experience more than sufficiently teaches that men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more easily than their words."
Baruch Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher of Sephardic Jewish origin and a major figure in early modern rationalism. His works in metaphysics, ethics, and political philosophy were highly influential in European intellectual history.