Should an evident quality be called occult, because its immediate cause is perhaps occult, or has not yet been discovered?
1715-1716
[...] we are more envious of those who seem to make more progress in virtue.
c. 72-126 AD
Those who helped this man were not fully aware of who he truly was. They barely suspected his true greatness.
1896
He is as tolerant as he can be.
1741-1784
Sebastián Martínez y Pérez (1747–1800)
1792
Social life would appear as an edifice of distinct vocations converging in Christ.
1962
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
Just as swallows come to us with the good weather and fly away at the touch of cold, so false friends [...] all fly away at the first harsh breath of fortune.
86-82 BC
How common it is for a happy man to deceive himself about the immutability of his happiness!
1636
Bronze crab
3rd–1st century BCE
Machiavelli's The Prince is the book of republicans.
1762
There are [...] men whose function is precisely to see and to make us see what, naturally, we would not perceive. They are the artists.
1934
The art of destruction is within the reach of the most limited minds. Nothing prevents a coarse lout from taking a hammer and knocking the nose off every statue [...], after which he can snicker with pleasure at his work.
1926
I force my mind to be constantly attentive to itself, and not to be diverted by the outside.
63-64 AD
Marble female figure
4500–4000 BCE
[The] Quantum is that which is divisible into ever-divisible parts.
c. 1270
Everyone carries their own temperament into their philosophy and theology, a fact too often forgotten.
1670
It is difficult to live among men, because it is so difficult to be silent. Especially for a talkative person.
1883-1885
In a country where money is current, can one promise to always maintain a fair balance between the fortunes of citizens?
1772
A Female Allegorical Figure
ca. 1740–50
The enumeration in this constitution of certain rights shall not be interpreted in a manner that excludes or weakens other rights retained by the people.
1835-1840
These minds are excessive in all encounters: they elevate low things, they enlarge small ones, they bring distant ones near. Nothing appears to them as it is.
1674-1675
Usually, the later the glory, the more lasting it will be, for all that is exquisite matures slowly.
1851
What we honor with the name of peace is properly but a short truce, by which the weaker party renounces its claims [...].
1746
Statuette of a girl
ca. 550–500 BCE
It is with reason that we observe how independent [a certain] organ is of ourselves; often soliciting us very importunately when we have no need for it; failing us sometimes just as inconveniently.
1580
The individual holds from society the best of himself [...]. If we take away from man language, the sciences, the arts, the beliefs of morality, he falls to the rank of animality.
1912
They will tell me that Love is a liar.
1718-1778
The seer knows the signs of what will come to pass, [...] but whether it is better for us that this should happen or not is for another to judge.
c. 380 BC
Standing youth
3rd century BCE
Since two things of the same kind cannot exist at the same time in the same place, whatever exists anywhere excludes every other thing of the same kind.
1689
There is scarcely any absurdity or mischief which may not be made to act on the human mind with all the authority of conscience.
1861
If it is not easy to define wit, one can at least decide [...] that it is a quality agreeable to others, & which [...] inspires joy in all those who are able to feel its worth.
1751
See what great peace Caesar seems to have given us [...]. But has Caesar been able to guarantee us also from fever? [...] from love? He cannot. From grief? He cannot.
c. 108 AD
Limestone statuette of a male votary
probably mid-6th century BCE
If he [God] consents to it, the devil, in cursing him, only does what he must, since he can only do what God wills; consequently, it is not the Devil, but God himself who curses himself.
17th century
To act to please the world, [...] to study to be admired, to teach to get rich, to dress up in a disguise of goodness and equity [...] these are things I will never bring myself to do.
4th century BC
Any given object does not produce a single, unique affection in us; it is a multitude of different impressions [...].
1805
[Certain] kinds of jests are suitable for a free man; others are not.
329-323 BC
Francis I (1494–1547), King of France
1507
In this beautiful season, in abundance, [the flowers] show their bloomed dresses.
1546/1563
It seemed to me that I had gained no other profit from my attempts to learn, except to discover more and more my own ignorance.
1637
Economists explain to us how production takes place in these given relations, but what they do not explain is how these relations themselves are produced, that is, the historical movement which gives them birth.
1847
The idea by which one is most struck is the one that one is naturally inclined to state first.
1746
Marble grave relief with two portrait busts
ca. 13 BCE–5 CE
Because everything in [them] works against nature, the good for which nature has given the predisposition is far from being extracted from the human being.
1777
Religion is the art of intoxicating men with enthusiasm, to prevent them from dealing with the evils with which their rulers overwhelm them here below.
1766
The idea of substituting national troops for mercenary troops.
1855
[One must discover] the true motives hidden under pretexts, the secrets of state.
1623
Man with a Tankard
1650