Corinth had always shown a deep love for liberty, and an equally strong hatred for tyranny: it had undertaken almost all its wars [...] not to dominate peoples, [...] but in the interest of the freedom of the Greeks.
100-120 AD
He who blames the whole of the world by considering only its parts is therefore unjust; he should examine the parts in their relation to the whole, to see if they are in accord and in harmony with it.
c. 253-270 AD
One of the most considerable [laws] [...] is the law of continuity [...]. However, it serves not only for examination, but also as a very fertile principle of invention.
1697
The contradiction in the existence of God.
1841
Limestone statuette of Geryon
probably early 5th century BCE
It is an honor and a glory to suffer for Jesus Christ. For, a Christian would never consent to suffer death [...] if his spirit were not certain that He is truly God.
1263-1264
Men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent and infinitely wise Maker, [...] His workmanship they are, made to last during His pleasure, not one another's.
1690
It is the irony of life that the most energetic feelings of gratitude and devotion [...] develop in us towards those who, having the power to annihilate our existence [...], are pleased to abstain from it.
1869
Consider the fox, the leopard. [...] they always end up perishing in a net or a trap. Why? Because of their beautiful fur, which men covet.
4th century BC
Sebastián Martínez y Pérez (1747–1800)
1792
Beware of all the inventions of charlatans; worship God; be an honest person, and believe that two and two make four.
1764
Interest is indeed the least constant thing in the world. Today, it is useful for me to unite with you; tomorrow, the same reason will make me your enemy.
1893
To love an angry, capricious, unjust god [...] To love the most dreadful object the human mind could ever conceive! [...] How can one love what one fears?
1766
What patricians have most at heart is to keep the most worthy citizens out of the council and to choose as colleagues people who have no will but their own.
1677
The Congregation of the Mother of God
1570
The properties of any inorganic body are as mysterious as life in a living being.
1819
The very vigor of mind and force of eloquence [...] only make one more capable of extinguishing in disciples all ardor for new research.
1620
The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.
1836
I can defile the entire universe with my misery and not feel it, or gather it within myself.
1947
The Declaration of Love
ca. 1724
[...] nothing is easier than going to hell, because the path is always downhill and one goes with one's eyes closed.
1512-1527
Gentlemen, I am not afraid of death: I solemnly swear to you [...] that if this very night I were to suddenly receive my death warrant, I would hear it calmly; I would raise my hands to heaven, and I would say: Blessed be God!
1827
There is nothing entirely in our power except our thoughts.
1637
For the first time I felt my natural pride bend beneath the yoke of necessity.
1782-1789
The Tears of Saint Peter
ca. 1612–13
Nothing good or beautiful can exist without measure.
c. 360 BC
Think [...] of death, of prison, of torture, of exile; but think of them without trembling, submissive to the one who has called you to such a fate.
c. 108 AD
Memory is nothing other than a continued, but weakened, sensation.
1758
To feel is our entire existence, and to judge is but to discern a circumstance in a prior perception, that is, to feel distinctly a part of what was at first felt confusedly.
1805
Serpentinite pendant
ca. 3900–2500 BCE
I think that democratic peoples have a natural taste for liberty [...]. But they have an ardent, insatiable, eternal, invincible passion for equality.
1835-1840
They had been deplorably mistaken in their choice of means.
1851-1852
My body is here, but my heart is not; [...] if I had to choose between death and perpetual enclosure, I would not hesitate to die.
1760
Sparta sustained itself as long as it waged war; and triumph was its ruin, because it did not know how to enjoy peace.
c. 350 BCE
Terracotta statuette of a woman
late 4th–early 3rd century BCE
A good [leader] never has weapons that are too short; what they lack in length, their bravery knows how to supplement.
1636
The mind [...] is ordinarily capable of recognizing and feeling all the parts of its soul only when others touch upon them and make it feel them.
1674-1675
There is no passion that so shakes the sincerity of judgment as anger.
1580
When [people], gathered in cities, mutually share the productions [...], it is natural that they all wish to enjoy all these productions.
1776
Steatite spindle whorl
ca. 2400–1900 BCE
The continuation of the righteousness of the faithful is nothing other than the continuation of the infusion of grace, and not a single grace that endures forever.
1656-1657
The copyist, unintelligent or inattentive, has lost [...] the author's meaning.
c. 1552-1553
Broad and beautiful things can please for a long time; those that are merely pretty and cute soon tire the ear, the most disdainful of our senses.
86-82 BC
I believe that the time spent on refutation in philosophy is generally time wasted. [...] What counts and what endures is the positive truth one has contributed.
1919
Two marble portrait heads from a relief
ca. 13 BCE–5 CE
The terms sociable, good-natured, humane [...] exist in all languages, and universally express the highest merit which human nature is capable of attaining.
1751
'All that is good is light, all that is divine runs on delicate feet': the first thesis of my Aesthetics.
1888
What is presumption in the weak, is elevation in the strong.
1746
The annoyances of life affect [virtue] no more, when they rain down on it, than a light shower affects the Ocean.
63-64 AD
The Pérussis Altarpiece
1480