What does not kill me makes me stronger.
1888
A solid and sure judgment, and a spirit all of fire, are [...] qualities that attract the name of prodigy to the man in whom they are united.
1636
I have led a somewhat wandering life.
1731-1735
The greatest souls are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues.
1637
Portrait of a Young Woman
1603
If you want priests, you do not want philosophers, and if you want philosophers, you do not want priests.
1774
There is no law in nature for the annihilation of any being, because nothingness has nothing beautiful or good, and the author of nature loves his work.
1674-1675
Justice is a flight [...] that implies abandonment, that also implies being pushed.
1953
[Some] at least doubt whether souls are not material and naturally perishable.
1715-1716
The Life and Miracles of Saint Godelieve
1475
[Such] variations [in theories] already indicate that there is something arbitrary in these divisions, and that they are not manifestly commanded by the facts.
1801
Human weakness [...] allows itself to be carried away by superstition and pride, or falls into negligence and contempt for sacred things.
100-120 AD
Of all created beings, the one least made to be mistaken is the one with the smallest portion of intelligence.
1755
Does it make men better? Alas! We see that everywhere it divides them, it sets them at odds, it makes them intolerant, it forces them to be the executioners of their brothers.
1766
Terracotta statuette of an actor
late 5th–early 4th century BCE
The memory will no longer be the object itself [...], it exists only for the person who evokes it, whereas the object is part of a common experience.
1919
Pascal's writing [...] is excessively rapid, it seems to rival the speed of the mind, one might call it a kind of shorthand forced to capture on the fly the improvisation of an intelligence in a hurry to express itself [...].
1670
The number [of philosophers] increases through persecution itself. They have only to be wise, and above all to be united, and you can be sure they will triumph.
1758
Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance.
c. 375 BC
Bronze statuette of a bull
7th century BCE
The artistic sense of the contemporary public? It is synonymous with perfect obedience. I much prefer complete ignorance, the kind that leaves natural sensitivity or insensitivity intact.
1926
What then are we ourselves? We are that which is essentially us, we are the principle to which nature has given the power to triumph over the passions.
c. 253-270 AD
The severe word of Kant is a manifesto in which Morality announces that it is free and independent of any kind of revelation, of any kind of God above or below [...].
1841
It is only with great difficulty that men of the upper classes ever succeed in clearly discerning what is passing in the soul of the people [...].
1856
Standing boy with a goose
3rd century BCE
[We flatter ourselves that they will do so] all the more willingly, as the service we ask for is honorable.
1498
In the course of years, man adds to the art of making himself unhappy that of hiding it from himself, by casting a veil over the sad objects of life [...].
1760
When you realize you are about to be defeated, you can create a diversion, i.e., start talking about something completely different, as if it had something to do with the debate.
1830-1831
The subject is well worth the trouble of reading it.
1574
Bronze serving fork
ca. 2nd–3rd century CE
Men's minds are generally too dull to penetrate to the heart of things at first glance, but they are sharpened by deliberating, listening, and debating.
1677
We shape plants by cultivation, and men by education.
1762
If the end of morality is society, it cannot let the very source of social life run dry.
1893
Nothing characterizes a bad reign like flattery carried to excess [...].
1746
Arrowhead
ca. 480–330 BCE
He puts the entire bourgeois economy into confusion, touches everything that seemed intangible [...] and creates anarchy in the very name of order.
1851/1852
When I make a wheel, if I go about it gently, the result will be weak; if I go about it forcefully, the result will be massive; if I go about it, I know not how, the result will conform to my ideal [...]. It's a knack that cannot be expressed.
4th century BC
Position is the order or disposition of parts in a place.
c. 1270
No, a person is never defeated in benefits, for gratitude is always on the same level as the will.
1st century AD
Pendant: head of a woman
5th century BCE
If we were afraid, not of death and exile, but of fear itself, it is fear that we would strive to avoid as an evil.
c. 108 AD
The question, 'Need I obey my conscience?' is as present to those who never heard of the principle of utility, as to utilitarians.
1861
Civil history, which by its importance and authority, holds the first rank among human writings.
1623
Even while giving it a moderate length, [one can make] a war that is too crowded with varied incidents.
c. 335 BC
Arrowhead
ca. 480–330 BCE
When the ship perishes, one often still manages to escape the wreck; but when the storm engulfs the republic, no one escapes its fury.
86-82 BC
He wanted to live, not according to the times, not according to men, not according to business, but according to himself.
1580
We must recognize that these two powers, the political and the paternal, are truly distinct and separate, are built upon different foundations, and have different ends.
1690
Men do not always agree in their judgments on the utility of an action, or of a custom...
1751
Pendant in the form of a fish
3900 BCE - 100 CE