Q0590

“The more the intellect is perfected, the more one draws near to…” — Maimonides (Guide of the Perplexed III.51 (Pines))

Verified English quotation. Primary source: Guide of the Perplexed III.51 (Pines). Theme: relation.

English

The more the intellect is perfected, the more one draws near to God; proximity is measured by knowledge.
Thinker Maimonides
School Jewish Rationalism
Source Guide of the Perplexed III.51 (Pines)
Theme Relation
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to Guide of the Perplexed III.51 (Pines) and files it under Jewish Rationalism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Maimonides

Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), known as Maimonides or Rambam, fled Almohad persecution from Córdoba to Fez and finally to Egypt, where he served as a communal leader and court physician. He codified Jewish law in the Mishneh Torah and wrote the Guide of the Perplexed for readers torn between Torah and Aristotelian science.

How to read this passage

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Martin Buber and G. W. This passage enters that discussion through relation, knowledge.

Concepts in this quote

Relation
Relation appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat relation as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.
Knowledge
Knowledge is the philosophical study of what we can justifiably claim to know—and where certainty ends.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Maimonides. (n.d.). The more the intellect is perfected, the more one draws near to God; proximity is measured by knowledge. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0590

MLA: Maimonides. “The more the intellect is perfected, the more….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0590.

Chicago: Maimonides. “The more the intellect is perfected, the more….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0590.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “The more the intellect is perfected, the more…”?

The passage is attributed to Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed III.51 (Pines). The archive attributes this English wording to Guide of the Perplexed III.51 (Pines) and files it under Jewish Rationalism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does Maimonides mean by relation?

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Martin Buber and G. W. This passage enters that discussion through relation, knowledge.

Same thinker

More from Maimonides

  1. Accept the truth from whatever source it comes.
  2. Silence and limiting oneself to the apprehensions of the intellect are more appropriate with regard to God than speech.
  3. The Law as a whole aims at two things: the welfare of the soul and the welfare of the body.
  4. The virtues are means between two extremes; the good character is the mean disposition.
  5. The foundation of all foundations and the pillar of all sciences is to know that there is a First Being who brought every existing thing into being.

All quotations by Maimonides

Same theme

More on relation

  1. It is through wonder that people both now begin and first began to philosophize.
  2. A person's character is their destiny.
  3. What is opposed brings together; from what differs comes the finest harmony.
  4. Death is nothing to us: for what has been dissolved has no sensation, and what has no sensation is nothing to us.
  5. Pleasure is the beginning and end of the happy life — not the pleasures of profligates, but freedom from pain in the body and from disturbance in the soul.

Browse the relation theme