Karl Marx before the Cologne Jury.
1848
It is not good that he who makes the laws should execute them.
1762
This egoism, of which we each have a treasure trove [...] reveals itself by our instinctive eagerness to seek, in every object offered to us, a means to lead us to our ends.
1840
Truthfulness is a duty which must be regarded as the basis of all duties founded on a contract, and, if one admits the slightest exception [...], one makes it unsteady and useless.
1797
Man with a Tankard
1650
[True happiness is] to be pleased with oneself, [...] to be cherished by the good, to be approved by the wise.
1718-1778
He who first said that money was the sinew of business, said it, in my opinion, principally in relation to war.
100-120 AD
To be determined by one's own judgment is not something that destroys Liberty. [...] it is what makes for its usefulness and perfection.
1689
Time has, in each century, presented some truths to men; but it still has many gifts left to give us.
1758
Marble cinerary urn in the form of a tree stump with leaves and grapes
ca. 1st century CE
It is a blindness [...] to live without seeking what one is.
1670
There is nothing which is, in itself, beautiful or ugly, worthy of love or hatred [...] these different qualifications depend solely on the sentiments and affections of each man [...].
1742
It would require a genius stronger than that of Socrates [...]; for, since it did not save him from imprisonment or death, he has not much reason to boast of it.
1643-1649
The Christian Religion is [...] the support of Society [...]. This is why [...] the Church has spies and forces parents, friends, and servants to inform on each other; which makes [...] the intercourse of life infinitely agreeable.
1768
Virgin and Child with Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Barbara
early 1480s
To carefully examine the subject one wishes to know before passing judgment on it; and to know precisely what one wants to say about it before speaking of it.
1805
To admit that one cannot affirm is a more honest attitude than to affirm without proof. Now, when one affirms, when one proclaims the Truth, it is always without proof.
1926
[It is the sophism of those] who believe they can explain diverse phenomena by assimilating them to those with which they have been most occupied.
1623
He who says everything, sickens and disgusts us. He who, on the contrary, is careful in his expression, leads us to think more than there is.
1580
Female head, perhaps from a standing tambourine player
ca. 600–480 BCE
They usually stop at the surface, at external ceremonies [...], they occupy themselves with them entirely. [...] Everything is essential to them, except what is truly essential.
1674-1675
Light is entirely incorporeal, although it is the act of a body.
c. 253-270 AD
Without realizing it, one sometimes substitutes for the supposedly mobile system a multiplicity of distinct systems [...], which one nevertheless continues to treat as a single system.
1922
Clarity adorns profound thoughts.
1747
Portrait of a Man
ca. 1560
It is so, because it is so; it is not so, because it is not so.
4th century BC
The imperative 'become hard!', the fundamental certainty that all creators are hard, this is the true distinctive sign of a Dionysian nature.
1888
[Self-love] is not selfishness, for the living being is made to always act for its own sake.
c. 108 AD
The inclinations of the heart are like sure paths; as soon as they are known, everything is paved, everything is open to take possession.
1636
Marble stele (grave marker) of a woman
ca. 375–350 BCE
The sentiment of justice [...] is the natural feeling of vengeance, applied through intelligence and sympathy, to those evils that harm both us and society at the same time.
1861
Men, accustomed to judging events by their results, blame the author of the advice for all the evil that follows.
1855
Everything that influences the condition of women, their habits and their opinions, is [...] of great political interest.
1835-1840
Is the voice of my conscience not enough? It is there that God speaks to me far more reliably than through the mouths of others.
1763
Saint John on Patmos, Madonna and Child Enthroned, and Death of the Virgin; The Crucifixion
1303
If the fact is true, one must nonetheless take all these precautions in recounting it; otherwise, the truth can often seem implausible.
86-82 BC
[In histories] one must not present a single action, but a single chronological period.
c. 335 BC
The skill of all human craftsmen consists only in composing and joining certain parts, which have a motion whose principles are entirely independent of the craftsman.
1715-1716
April, the sweet hope of fruits [...] which nourish their young infancy.
1546/1563
The Sacrifice of Polyxena
1630
It is by having built religion on diverse foundations that the apostles gave rise to the numerous discords and schisms which, since their time, have ceaselessly torn the Church apart [...].
1670
Their consumption, at once larger and more varied, will increasingly stimulate industry, and consequently agriculture, the arts and commerce will flourish.
1776
Neither intelligence nor pleasure can be the good, if they are lacking something.
c. 360 BC
It is [...] worthwhile to extract [the rules of the method], to formulate them separately, accompanying them with their proofs and illustrating them with examples.
1895
Panthers of Bacchus Eating Grapes
ca. 1719–20
Without me, you can do nothing.
1263-1264
We must accept the situation that is made for us, which subjects us to absolute obligations towards things that are relative, limited, and imperfect.
1943
[He] was truly one of those all-too-rare men who, by giving everything within them until nothing is left, thereby show themselves to be related to genius.
1896
I would wish that when you express these excellent thoughts, the elegance of the language would match their majesty.
3rd or 4th century AD
Faience aegis pectoral with lion (?) head
664–30 BCE