In a pure soul [...], it is likely that these inspirations, though bold and imprecise, were worthy of being heeded.
1580
It is therefore the people themselves who allow themselves to be, or rather cause themselves to be, dominated, since by ceasing to serve they would be free; it is the people who enslave themselves, who cut their own throats.
c. 1552-1553
In the darkness one sees fire, the stars, and their shapes. No one could claim that, in this case, the forms of objects, being imprinted on the dark air, are transmitted to the eye.
c. 253-270 AD
One can think spontaneously, when one wants to; but one cannot feel spontaneously, for there must of necessity be something to feel.
384–322 BC
Statuette of a man
4th–1st century BCE
Potency is defined by its acts [...], and acts are defined by their objects [...].
c. 1270
The gods are mockers: it even seems they cannot help but laugh during sacred ceremonies.
1886
The shorter time will be a merely attributed time, unable to be lived, unreal: only real Time [...] will be a time that can be lived.
1922
What we look at down here is not real, it is a stage set. What we eat is destroyed, is no longer real.
1947
Marble statue of Tyche-Fortuna restored with the portrait head of a woman
1st or 2nd century CE
Excess of liberty, whether it be in states or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery.
c. 375 BC
Every man has a conscience and feels himself observed, threatened, and [...] held in respect by an inner judge.
1797-1798
What is the government's objective when it perfects its manufactures, when it expands its commerce? It is to attract its neighbors' money.
1772
Men are funny: when no one comes quickly enough to steal their freedom, they steal it themselves.
1926
Bronze sphinx
late 6th century–early 5th century BCE
The only thing left for the government to do was to become the bank itself, and it did.
1776
The rules of dialectics, applied too late, [...] serve rather to fix errors than to discover truth.
1620
If the salvation of the State is at stake, [both a prince and a republic], to avert the danger, will break its commitments and will not be afraid to show ingratitude.
1855
The art of living must be learned throughout life; and, what may surprise you more, one must learn how to die throughout life.
c. 49 AD
Marble head of a youth
4th century BCE
One does not invent ideas [...] but there is a way of choosing these ideas, of associating them, of expressing them, even, which is a kind of creation.
1762
And so that this may be a firm and stable matter for all time, we have had our seal affixed to these presents.
1662
these two sciences [arithmetic and algebra] are the foundation of all the others, and provide the true means of acquiring all the exact sciences.
1674-1675
It is the particular rules, on the contrary, which, directly and without intermediary, bind the will at every moment.
1893
Head of the Virgin
1636
We reason about their flaws as we do about those of a great man; if they were not jealous, mad, vain, capricious, they would not be this genius.
1774
In the case [of an abstract materialism], matter is the analogue of God, for it is conceived within the same framework and merely takes the place of God.
1841
[Antisthenes] founded the Cynic sect, which was absorbed into that of the Stoics.
45 BC
Did I need you to teach me that the body my parents gave me is well-made? Do you think your compliments affect me, when I know you will denigrate me elsewhere more than you have flattered me here?
4th century BC
The Crucifixion
ca. 1495
Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.
1859
The soothsayer [...] declared to him, clearly and without evasion, that he saw signs of a great disturbance, and that a secret treason threatened his head.
100-120 AD
We should envy others less for their happiness than for their misfortune.
1851
This makes me confess, without shame, to have found in myself all the causes of error that you point out.
1643-1649
Study Head of a Young Woman
ca. 1618–20
Geometric determinations imply an absolute necessity, the contrary of which implies contradiction, but Architectonic ones only imply a necessity of choice, the contrary of which implies imperfection.
1697
We are only recounting here, and we never enter into controversy.
1764
Absolute dominion is so far from being a form of civil society that it is no less incompatible with civil society than slavery is with property.
1690
As the principle of the division of labor is more completely applied, the worker becomes weaker, more narrow-minded, and more dependent. The art progresses, the artisan retrogresses.
1835-1840
Frescoes from the Villa Stati-Mattei
1501
Often what pleases them one day, displeases them the next; whatever efforts they make, it is not in their power to recall their past inclinations [...].
1742
[Religious wars are] salutary & copious bleedings that the Physicians of our souls prescribe for the bodies of nations, whom God wishes to favor with a very pure doctrine.
1768
Academies, founded at the expense of the State, generally aim less to cultivate minds than to restrain them.
1677
Reason thus finds itself degraded to the point of doing what is not its domain, and not doing what is; it no longer has a criterion in itself, it no longer distinguishes between true and false [...].
1841
Bronze statuette of a satyr and maenad
ca. 510–480 B.C
Alternately, the idea gives birth to the sign, and the sign gives birth to the idea.
1801
Man's good and evil are in his ways of judging and willing, and the rest is of no interest to us. What then can trouble or frighten us?
c. 108 AD
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
It is sometimes more difficult to govern a single man than a great people.
1746
Head and neck from a marble figure
2700–2500 BCE