It is to be desired that each step forward appear to be the fruit of an effort, [...] that there are no grandeurs too easily won, and that ambition is forced to fix its gaze on the goal for a long time before reaching it.
1835-1840
Books against good morals are sometimes tolerated, but those that attack the very foundation of Religion so strongly never go unpunished.
17th century
One must avoid illness more than shame.
End of the 4th century BC
With what slowness, with what difficulty, the human race civilizes itself, and society is perfected!
1756
Marble statue head of a youth
1st or 2nd century CE
[In the man of genius], this calculation is all done in his head.
c. 1763
If arms were taken up so that the lowest of men could enrich themselves with the property of others [...], then this war, instead of bringing peace and liberty [...], has only made the yoke of oppression heavier.
79 BC
If I become aware of this loss of my faculties, and I displease myself, how could I still find pleasure in living?
4th century BC
A prince whose city is well fortified, and who does not make himself hated by his subjects, need not fear being attacked.
1513
Cymbal
7000 BCE - 330 CE
In sum: the business of the senses is to perceive; that of the understanding, to think. Now, to think is to unite representations in a single consciousness.
1783
It is impossible to honor those one despises, nor to willingly obey those one hates and holds in horror.
c. 1552-1553
Reason is the known truth whose connection with another, less known truth, makes us give our assent to the latter.
1704
Those who [...] take part in a race must indeed use all their strength to outrun their opponents; yet they are not permitted to lay a hand on them to stop them.
1580
The Seine: Morning
1874
When it comes to spending time, we are lavish to the point of excess with the one thing in which it is honorable to be stingy.
c. 49 AD
The man who prefers his ambition to his safety loves war; but the true warrior wages it only to obtain his safety.
100-120 AD
An imperfect reason is far above an absence of reason.
1746
Listen to the protestations of men, there is nothing of which they are so assured as the truth of their religion. Look at their conduct: you will doubt they ever had any religion at all.
1757
Inscribed marble plaque
2nd–3rd century CE
The mystery of the miracle.
1841
The more intense our passions, the greater the effects they produce.
1758
All that is beautiful in the world, it holds from the One who formed it, but all that happens [...] that is bad and unjust, it receives from that prior state.
c. 253-270 AD
A miracle is an effect contrary to the constant laws of nature; consequently, God himself, without offending his wisdom, cannot perform miracles.
1766
Portrait of a Man
ca. 1650
There is nothing so beautiful as truth: one must not pretend to be able to make it more beautiful by painting it with sensible colors.
1674-1675
Our idea of a being is never anything but the collection of the perceptions it causes in us, of the qualities we know it to have.
1817
The aggressor country always starts with a considerable moral advantage, provided the aggression has been prepared and premeditated.
1957
If women do not complain about the power of husbands, each one complains about her own husband, or the husbands of her friends. It is the same in all other forms of servitude [...].
1869
Portrait of a Woman
1790
Place in [Christ] all your consolation and your inner strength, for from the world, you have nothing to expect but oppression and persecution.
1263-1264
The unity and simplicity of this concept would easily make one forget what a long series of obstacles had to be overcome to achieve it.
1663
The people [...] regarded the merchants [...] as greedy men who took advantage of their needs. Once this opinion was established, one could no longer, if jealous of one's reputation, engage in this trade.
1776
It is over; the charm has worked. Everything this poet writes from now on will be admirable.
1926
Mother and Child
probably 1860s
Many human beings drag with them throughout their lives a heap of nonsense, whims, fantasies, imaginings, and prejudices that verge on obsession.
1909
The only useful habit for children is to submit effortlessly to the necessity of things, and the only useful habit for men is to submit effortlessly to reason.
1762
To excel, without making one's excellence felt, that is the conduct that makes one loved everywhere.
4th century BC
Could I be another? A stranger to myself? [...] A fighter who has too often had to overcome himself?
1886
Part of the left foot of a colossal marble statue
3rd–2nd century BCE
Entire layers of the bourgeois class are thrown into the working class. Competition among workers therefore increases [...].
1849
After having based all his physics on motion, [Descartes] seemingly ruins it by positing motion as purely relative.
17th century
The judge states the law, he does not pronounce penalties.
1893
How shall the Mind, which perceives nothing but its own ideas, know that they agree with things themselves?
1689
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
ca. 1640
Never praise or blame anyone for the actions of common life, and never say because of them that one is wise or is not.
c. 108 AD
The presence or absence of a screw may determine whether a machine works or not: does it follow that each part of the screw corresponds to a part of the machine [...]?
1919
[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
The fortunate [...] feel adversity much more keenly than those who have already experienced it.
1636
Roses in a Bowl
1883