Men generally define being and non-being according to whether they sense the thing or not [...].
c. 350 B.C.E.
The thought of death deceives us, for it makes us forget to live.
1747
Is not pleasure most often an absence of pain?
c. 360 BC
Although one cannot command the mind as one commands the tongue, yet minds are in some way dependent on the sovereign [...].
1670
Terracotta statuette of a woman
late 4th–early 3rd century BCE
There are too many honest people with an interest in lies for one to escape them.
1758
A ready-made idea is an absolutely non-transmissible thing; to be truly conscious of it, [...] one must necessarily [...] have experienced it.
1801
[It is necessary] that the well-educated reader takes pleasure only in that which provides positive and clear knowledge, and is averse to all the rest.
1790
Society [...] practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since [...] it penetrates much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaves the soul itself.
1859
View of Toledo
ca. 1599–1600
Our position in the world is manifestly such that no intelligent being, let alone one in possession of supreme wisdom, would want to place himself in it.
1851
It is from this true and one world that the sensible world, which is not truly one, draws its existence: it is [...] multiple and divided into a plurality of parts that are separate from one another.
c. 253-270 AD
You want to be useful to them! Show them by your own example what kind of men philosophy can make, and do not chatter uselessly.
c. 108 AD
If to have liberty it is necessary only to desire it, if only a simple act of will is needed, will there be any nation in the world that still deems it too expensive [...]?
c. 1552-1553
Saint Francis
1450s
I would believe myself hated to be loved weakly.
1732
It seemed that these texts, thus brought together, allowed one to grasp [...] what the spirit of Greece is for Simone Weil [...].
1953
When we are inclined to regard extension as the subject of all sensible qualities, is it because it is indeed the subject, or only because this idea [...] is familiar to us?
1754
Happiness consists in rest and in pleasure, it is a state of ease and contentment: happiness flees from vigils; it abhors cares and fatigues.
1742
Portrait of a Woman
1560
It is one thing to owe honour, respect, help, and gratitude; it is another to be obliged to an absolute obedience and submission.
1690
This pleasure, although natural, is not necessary; you owe it nothing.
63-64 AD
From the moment the object of the tax was not to reach those most able to pay it, but those least able to defend themselves from it, one was led to the monstrous consequence of sparing the rich and burdening the poor.
1856
If any good comes of it [for weak republics], it is to necessity and not to their wisdom that they must give thanks.
1513-1519
Limestone head of beardless male votary with wreath of leaves
early 2nd century BCE(?)
[...] we returned cheerfully by the light of the lanterns, and safe from thieves.
1662
we will fulfill all the duties that humanity inspires in us.
1627
Laziness is almost always victorious over the love of truth.
1674-1675
Consciousness [...] only fills the space that instinct leaves free.
1893
Apple Blossoms
1873
He who has the gift of style makes no other reproach to life than that of being too difficult to paint; but he loves it precisely because of the trouble he takes.
1926
...to apply oneself to the greatest matter one can have, which is the choice of the true religion.
1686
Of all Rousseau's writings, the Social Contract is perhaps the one most talked about and least read.
1762
[Hostilities] without a declaration of war [are] perfidy.
1770
Haystacks: Autumn
ca. 1874
Far from feasting on acquired glory, [a great heart] forgets it to always seek a new one.
1636
It seems, in truth, that nature, to console us for our miserable and wretched state, has given us nothing for our share but presumption.
1580
The growth of productive forces thus leads to a strengthened domination of big capital, an increased stultification, and a greater simplification of the machine called the worker.
1849
Like a man who walks alone and in the dark, I resolved to go so slowly [...] that if I did not advance far, I would at least guard myself from falling.
1637
A Peasant Woman Picking Fleas off a Dog
ca. 1626–27
There are professions that one absolutely cannot, or cannot without great difficulty, practice without sin. The truly converted heart must therefore completely detach itself from everything that can lead it to sin.
1263-1264
Pardon, king, [...] poverty, not distress. The scholar who possesses the knowledge of the Principle and its action is never in distress.
4th century BC
Is literature anything other than a geometry without figures, a metaphysics without barbarisms?
1882
[These are] the ceremonies that imprint upon some men a sacred character, which distinguishes them from profane mortals.
1766
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1815
We are sick of this modernity—sick of this unhealthy peace, of this cowardly compromise, of all this virtuous uncleanliness of the modern yes and no.
1888
Lacking [charisma], [a man's] great deeds and virtues became unbearable even to those who reaped their benefits: they could not stand his pride or his stubbornness.
100-120 AD
True life [...] begins for those who escape from the bonds of the body where they were captive; but what you call life is really death.
54-51 BC
For love, what is earthly is heavenly; the happiness it finds in itself is the supreme bliss. Love elevates the finite to the infinite.
1842-1845
Statuette of a man ?
3rd–1st century BCE