Disorder exists only because of order, lawlessness only because of the law, unreason only because of reason, because the order, law, and reason seen here below are only borrowed.
c. 253-270 AD
Any man, when passions do not obscure the light of his reason, will always be the more indulgent the more enlightened he is.
1758
An outburst, escaped in certain moments, can put the hero on the same level as the common man; it can even put the latter above the former.
1636
As long as an opinion is rooted in feelings, it defies the most decisive arguments [...]. When an opinion is based on feeling only, the more it is maltreated in a debate, the more persuaded its adherents are that their feeling must rest on some reason that has remained out of reach.
1869
Saint John on Patmos, Madonna and Child Enthroned, and Death of the Virgin; The Crucifixion
1303
To seek the material earth and sky in the divine word [...] is to seek among eternal things that which is but fleeting.
1623
For new inventions, art must be aided by theory until use has made the rules of theory so common that they are finally reduced to art.
1642-1645
God is love, and He is an object of love: the whole contribution of mysticism is there.
1932
The way of speaking that opposes reason to faith, although much authorized, is improper; for it is by reason that we must believe.
1704
Figures on the Beach
1890
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
Good God! Save me from my friends; I will guard myself from my adversaries.
1893
[Hell] is the kitchen hearth that keeps the Sacerdotal pot boiling in this world.
1768
An imperfect reason is far above an absence of reason.
1746
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
ca. 1640
[...] all [sensations] being necessarily pleasant or unpleasant, [the being] is interested in enjoying the ones and avoiding the others.
1754
Falsehood never dictated my lies; they all came from weakness, but that is a very poor excuse for me.
1776-1778
Is it outside of me or in me? asks [...] every man from whom a vision of this sort does not take away his composure.
1836
There is nothing false, nothing unworthy of being said and recommended in writing for times to come.
1574
Nail
7000 BCE - 330 CE
Despotic power is an absolute and arbitrary power that one man has over another, which he can use to take away his life whenever he pleases.
1690
The desire to acquire is doubtless a very natural and ordinary thing; [...] but to form the design without the power to execute it is to incur blame and commit an error.
1855
Every time I give a speech, I feel I am before a tribunal that will judge not only my talent, but also my integrity and character.
66 BC
Twenty minutes of intense, unfatigued attention are infinitely better than three hours of that frowning application which makes one say, with the feeling of a duty accomplished: 'I have worked well.'
1942
Bronze helmet attachment
late 6th century BCE
[...] there can be neither good physics nor good philosophy [without chemical knowledge].
1770
Classical paganism was characterized by unity; dualism, division, disagreement in all things are the character of Christianity.
1842-1845
If interest brings men together, it is never but for a few moments; it can only create an external bond between them.
1893
It is not up to a writer to present himself as he conceives himself to posterity, which takes into account neither intentions nor even wills and accepts only the results.
1926
Marble cinerary chest with lid
ca. 20–30 CE
One must vary the expressions to say the same thing, which helps to bring about dramatic effects.
329-323 BC
What is this glory that swells your hearts [...]? An echo, a shadow, a dream, the shadow of a dream.
1742
If I perceive this loss of my faculties, and I become displeasing to myself, how could I still find pleasure in living?
4th century BC
No fantasy so mad can fall into the human imagination that does not meet with the example of some public custom [...].
1580
Hinge
3900 BCE - 100 CE
The Parliament of Paris was thus in turn the instrument and the victim of the League [...].
1769
Having made thought and extension two substances, [Descartes] was obliged to say that thought, as soon as it is created, always thinks [...].
1817
We will divide all of nature into two parts, nature naturing and nature natured.
c. 1660
We attribute to our minds so much strength and wisdom that we have the presumption to want to determine and understand what God can and must do.
1641
Horseman
4th–3rd century BCE
Between the subject that has a substance [...] and the thing possessed, there is no real relation, but only a relation of reason.
c. 1270
We will do voluntarily, under the auspices of reason, what today we only do in spite of ourselves, by the constraint of laws.
1st Century A.D.
You live as if you were to live forever; your own frailty never occurs to you.
c. 49 AD
Harmony with men is human joy [...]; harmony with heaven is celestial joy, supreme happiness.
4th century BC
Limestone head of a beardless male votary
1st century BCE
It is all over with man when he becomes altruistic.
1888
The imagination may perhaps be excused if it sometimes raves [...]. But that the understanding, whose business it is to think, should instead rave, is something that can never be forgiven.
1783
[Das Kapital] (1867), which is his main work as a writer.
March 17, 1883
Bring me whatever man you wish, and I will see if he knows how to analyze them.
c. 108 AD
Bronze strainer
5th century BCE