There is a double consequence [...]: when one proceeds by the position of the antecedent, and [...] when one proceeds by the destruction of the consequent.
c. 1270
One can say foolish things gravely and modestly, and impieties in a devout manner [...]. One must never be persuaded by manners [...], but only by the force of their reasons.
1674-1675
No dissension is so great or so dangerous as that which comes from religion: it separates citizens, neighbors, friends, relatives [...], it breaks alliances [...] and penetrates to the depths of hearts to [...] entrench irreconcilable hatreds.
c. 1552-1553
People are naturally inconsistent [...] things must therefore be arranged so that when they no longer believe, they can be made to believe by force.
1513
Bronze patera (salver)
ca. 550 BCE
The deceased Sages [...], were they able to deposit their knack, their genius in their writings? If not, the books you read are [...] but the detritus of the ancients.
4th century BC
The course [of the blood] is nothing other than a perpetual circulation.
1637
If thoughts were realities, then everything one thinks would exist [...] which is obviously absurd.
c. 350 B.C.E.
This true method [...] would consist of two main things: [...] to use no term whose meaning has not first been clearly explained; [and] never to advance any proposition that is not demonstrated by truths already known.
circa 1658
Limestone inscribed box fragment
3900 BCE - 100 CE
Fine manners [...] are more arbitrary and accidental things, but the merit of mature age is almost the same in every country; it consists above all in integrity, humanity, knowledge...
1751
Montesquieu claims that slavery owes its abolition to the Christian religion; this assertion is refuted.
1770
The arts must make some progress to pull us out of a crude life; and they must stop after some progress, to prevent us from falling into a soft life.
1776
It is universally admitted that partiality is incompatible with justice; preference given to one person over another, when there is no reason to prefer them, is unjust.
1861
Saints Michael and Francis
ca. 1505–9
Nature natured, to be well understood, requires a substance.
c. 1660
Do you always call this kind of endurance, this foolish endurance, a fine and good thing?
c. 380 BC
I have ordered myself to dare to say all that I dare to do, and I am displeased even by unpublishable thoughts.
1580
In Religion, [duties] are those which are founded on the relations that exist between men and their Priests. From which we see that it is up to the Priests alone to determine the duties of a good Christian.
1768
Marble statuette of Aphrodite Anadyomene (rising)
1st century CE
The dogma of the Trinity therefore requires man to think the opposite of what he imagines and to imagine the opposite of what he thinks [...].
1841
What are desire and joy, if not a will that consents to what pleases us? And what are fear and sadness, if not a will that turns away from what displeases us?
c. 253-270 AD
The storm has passed, the work remains, and will remain forever, for the glory and justification of its illustrious author.
1758
The number of [rules with repressive sanctions] is smaller today than in the past, and [...] progressively decreases as societies approach our current type.
1893
Upper part of the marble stele (grave marker) of Kallidemos
ca. 350–325 BCE
Manners spoil more easily than they are corrected.
1746
For this, it is not necessary that he be admired, it is enough that he be liked.
1835-1840
The great superiority of noble birth is that it allows one to bear poverty better.
1881
One must never separate [thought and expression]: separated, they fall to nothing, thought to banality, expression to nullity.
1926
Marble portrait of a young woman
ca. 98–117 CE
Does one not lose all the time that could be better spent? Ah! If one can live a thousand years in a quarter of an hour, what is the point of sadly counting the days one has lived?
1761
It is certain that nothing is rarer among human writings than a history that is well-made and accomplished in all its points.
1623
It is impossible for men ever to search accurately for [...] the agreement [...] of Ideas, while their thoughts only roll [...] upon sounds of doubtful and uncertain meaning.
1689
True mysticism is exceptional. But when it speaks, there is, in the depths of most men, something that imperceptibly echoes it.
1932
Marble portrait of the emperor Caracalla
212–217 CE
When [our judgments] are flawed, it is always because of their relationship with previous judgments.
1805
The errors of our time are Christianity without the supernatural.
1947
Children must, from the most tender age, be sensitive to glory, be saddened by reprimands, and take pride in praise.
100-120 AD
it follows that, apart from man, there would be nothing substantial in the visible world, because substantial unity requires a being that is [...] indivisible, and naturally indestructible [...].
1686
Bronze bowl from a thymiaterion (incense burner)
late 4th century BCE
There is a pomp of grief more demanding than grief itself: how few men are sad for themselves alone!
63-64 AD
My goal is that my will shall be in harmony with nature.
c. 108 AD
The dilettante considers the thing as an end; the professional, only as a means. [...] It is from such men, and not from mercenaries, that the greatest things have always come.
1905
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
Limestone strainer
3900 BCE - 100 CE
I love him... as one should... not too strongly... sensibly.
1749
In this struggle — a veritable civil war — all the elements necessary for a coming battle unite and develop. Once it has reached this point, association takes on a political character.
1847
The mind thinks and arranges at little cost what costs the heart infinitely to implement.
1636
When the thinking man has succeeded in overcoming the inclinations that pushed him to vice [...], he finds himself in a state of inner peace [...] where virtue is its own reward.
1797-1798
Portrait of a Young Woman
1603