The populace draws the false conclusion that one must obey superiors only in things good in themselves, and then attributes to itself the judgment of what is good or bad, and finally [...] has no other law than its own conscience.
c. 1552-1553
It is more natural to look for the corruptor in the one who fears being condemned, than in the one who fears seeing the other acquitted.
66 BC
One can have three main objectives in the study of truth: one, to discover it when one seeks it; another, to demonstrate it when one possesses it; the last, to discern it from the false when one examines it.
circa 1658
Position is the order or disposition of parts in a place.
c. 1270
The Seine: Morning
1874
[...] duration, whose essence is to flow ceaselessly, and to exist, consequently, only for a consciousness and a memory.
1890
Convinced that necessity would force [...] these peoples to arm themselves, [the Senate] took the most honorable course, and willed that what they had to do be authorized by it.
1513-1519
It is better to never taste happiness than to taste it and lose it.
1761
One of two things is true: either the thing one mocks deserves mockery, or it does not.
c. 1660
Limestone inscribed fragment
3900 BCE - 100 CE
The superior man gazes into the depths of the azure sky, into the depths of the terrestrial abysses, [...] without his vital spirits being in the least disturbed.
4th century BC
To seek the material earth and sky in the divine word [...] is to seek among eternal things that which is but fleeting.
1623
Whether men join this or that idea or not [...] makes no difference to essences, genera, or species, since it is only a matter of possibilities, which are independent of our thought.
1704
Who would dare change anything in that work? It is so well made.
1759-1774
Landscape with Figures
1914
Everything has turned out for me so far in a very strange way.
1747
For I feel well, which is the sweetest thought, that I have lived my whole life in piety and justice.
4th century BC
Until recent times, all those who felt the need to support their revolutionary feelings with precise concepts found or believed they found these concepts in Marx.
1934
Life is an indifferent thing, but the way we live it is not.
c. 108 AD
Marble inscribed base
ca. 2nd century CE
Hurt by the too manifest contradictions of our opinions, I sought through so many errors the abandoned paths of the true.
1746
The only collective sentiments that have become more intense are those whose object is not social things, but the individual.
1893
It is difficult not to depart from common sense, as soon as one tries [...] to translate verses [...] with the pretension of saying exactly what they say.
100-120 AD
What is the malignity of a philosophy that will not grant to humanity and friendship the same rights that are forcedly acknowledged in atrocious sentiments such as hatred and resentment?
1751
The Crucifixion
1389
The relative value of [things] is [...] determined in the markets.
1776
When, in a painful and dreadful dream, anguish reaches its peak, it awakens us [...]. The same thing happens in the dream of life, when supreme anxiety pushes us to break its thread.
1851
Let us not repeat, in the middle of the nineteenth century, the history of the conquest of America. Let us not imitate the bloody examples that the opinion of mankind has condemned.
1847
The deception is not so great to find the enemy in reality weaker than one had hoped, as it is to find them, after judging them weak by reputation, truly very strong.
1580
Flora
ca. 1654
Being always away from home, they do not notice the disorders that occur there; they think they are well, because they do not feel themselves.
1674-1675
We are active and passive because we are in the one animal and we constitute parts of it.
c. 253-270 AD
In what way do the great poets imitate nature? By always making their characters speak in accordance with the passion that animates them.
1772
If we consider the objects of the senses [...] as mere phenomena, we thereby acknowledge that a thing in itself underlies them, although we do not know what it is [...].
1783
Portrait of a Man
1781
If one criticizes the lack of truth, the answer is that the intent was to render objects as they should be.
c. 335 BC
Logic can only consist in the study of our intelligence, since it is the processes of our intelligence that must be examined and judged.
1817
[...] now for serious matters.
1888
if [...] a country is again relatively quiet and even strong, it is mainly because the Revolution has really profited the great majority of the people [...].
1851-1852
Limestone hand holding a pyxis and a branch of leaves
3rd–1st century BCE
Whatever has lasted a long time seems sacred to men; they would think themselves guilty if they cast their reckless gaze upon things sealed with the stamp of antiquity.
1766
What [animals] do better than us does not prove that they have a mind [...]; but rather that they have none, and that it is nature which acts in them according to the disposition of their organs.
1637
'Condensation is the proper work of the creative intelligence'.
1896
The blind man at least looks for a guide; we wander without taking one.
63-64 AD
Standing tambourine player
ca. 600–480 BCE
Great thieves punish the small ones to keep people in obedience; and [...] are rewarded with laurels and triumphs, because they are too powerful [...] for the weak hands of justice.
1690
An active and energetic character, who is denied liberty, seeks power: deprived of self-disposal, they assert their personality by trying to govern others.
1869
Is it not better to break with fortune at the right time, than to be struck by an unforeseen blow that throws one from the top of the wheel?
1636
What you love in me is the smell of my books!
1926
Marble table leg (trapezophoros) with reliefs of griffins
5th century BCE