Wherever [religion] reigns, do we not see the people enslaved, devoid of vigor, energy, activity, stagnating in shameful lethargy [...]?
1766
We doubt the existence of God, and consequently of all things, as long as we have only a confused idea of God, instead of a clear and distinct one.
1670
It is customary to call youth the happy time, and old age the sad time of life. This would be true if the passions brought happiness.
1851
What is there that one cannot find in the knowledge of man?
1746
Limestone statuette of a temple girl
3rd century BCE–1st century CE
Hearing by itself is not meant to give us the idea of distance [...] the idea it provides is still the most imperfect of all.
1746
The goal of most commentators is not to clarify their authors and seek the truth; it is to show off their erudition and blindly defend the very flaws of those they comment upon.
1674-1675
Perhaps [...] the valiant knights of yesteryear were [...] bored, boring, talkative, and superstitious.
1772
The word [haughty] is only said of the human species.
1751
Terracotta group of women seated around a well head
2nd half of 4th century BCE
I am not one of those for whom commitment takes the place of reason.
1695
Buildings that drew everyone's admiration [...] are relegated to the rank of antiquities as luxury finds new ways to outdo itself.
63-64 AD
Paganism sacrificed bodies, whereas Christianity sacrifices souls.
1842-1845
Every appearance must be considered reality until it has been proven to be illusory.
1922
Madonna and Child with Saints Jerome and Mary Magdalen
ca. 1490
Men [...] are inclined to esteem themselves rather above than below their worth, and that is why it is so easy to hurt us by carrying self-esteem too far.
1751
True courage [...] does not consist in fighting, but in fearing nothing.
1761
A good [leader] never has weapons that are too short; what they lack in length, their bravery knows how to supplement.
1636
But, whether through nonchalance or extreme poverty, this useful regulation was only very imperfectly executed.
1662
Bronze statuette of a youth carrying a pig
early 5th century BCE
I drove out kings; you bring in tyrants. I gave you liberty [...]; you, who now possess it, do not want to keep it.
86-82 BC
Two [...] letters written in the same week [...] express absolutely contradictory views on life, perhaps because he was bored in the morning and enjoying himself in the afternoon.
1926
Men, most of the time without reason, praise past times and blame the present time.
1513-1519
If a [dissenting] opinion is right, [others] are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth; if it is wrong, they lose an almost equally great benefit: the clearer perception of truth, produced by its collision with error.
1859
Woman at a Balcony
1887–88
Classes are only in our heads and not in nature.
1805
Strength is likewise destroyed, both when one does too much exercise, and when one does not do enough.
4th century BC
Be resolved to serve no more, and you are at once free. [...] Do not support him any longer, and you will see him, like a great colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces.
c. 1552-1553
[He] was not an unbeliever but timid in his faith [...] he wanted to be enlightened, but he feared being known.
1263-1264
Limestone statuette of a boy with a flat headdress
6th century BCE
It is not peace, but war, schism, that is to the taste of most.
1623
[One can rise to the pinnacle of glory] by taking one's own nature as the guide for one's life, and not the opinion of the multitude.
100-120 AD
Lovers, friends have two desires. One to love each other so much that they enter into one another and become a single being. The other to love each other so much that having half the globe between them does not diminish their union in any way.
1942
[...] those wretched commonplaces with which, to the shame of human reason, the various schools of theology have resounded every day [...].
1763
Portrait of a Man
1695
We should not say that an act offends the common conscience because it is criminal, but that it is criminal because it offends the common conscience. [...] It is a crime because we condemn it.
1893
Pulverize jade and pearls, and there will be no more thieves. Burn the contracts, break the seals, and men will become honest again.
4th century BC
Delaying [a project] that is to become the first successful example [...] is the same as sowing the seed before maturity, and later harvesting weeds.
1777
Natural reason [...] teaches us [...] that we should not leave the certain for the uncertain.
1643-1649
The Crucifixion
ca. 1480
[...] the invariable answer is Socialism. Even bourgeois liberalism is declared socialistic, bourgeois enlightenment socialistic, bourgeois financial reform socialistic.
1851/1852
This great charge [...] of commanding so many men is not a situation in which one can remain idle.
1580
Our Ignorance infinitely surpasses our Knowledge.
1689
Will you then never feel who you are, for what end you were born, and why you have received the gift of sight?
c. 108 AD
The Virgin of the Nativity
probably ca. 1500
Idleness is the mother of all psychology. What? Is psychology then a... vice?
1888
The greedy, blind, and coarse passions [...] are almost as formidable to those who sympathize with them without fully abandoning themselves to them as to those who condemn and fight them.
1893
Education makes good men, and good men do noble deeds.
c. 387 BC
[This process is seen] as in the composition of ointments and medicines.
c. 253-270 AD
Christ Blessing the Children
ca. 1545–50