Every man calls Good that which is pleasing to himself and calls Evil that which displeases him. [...] there exists no absolute goodness considered without relation.
1772
No pact has value except by reason of its utility; if the utility disappears, the pact vanishes with it and loses all its authority.
1670
The true foundation of all morality: 'Harm no one; on the contrary, help everyone as much as you can.'
1840
Ideals are realities.
1922
Upper part of a female limestone votary
2nd or 3rd quarter of the 6th century BCE
I have observed that the things in which I followed my own impulses have succeeded better for me than those in which I let myself be guided by the counsel of those wiser than I.
1643-1649
With his ears full of music and his mouth full of delicacies, the upstart is not happy. The worry of maintaining his position makes him like a beast of burden endlessly climbing the same slope.
4th century BC
As long as the heart of man is as it is, it will never be totally indifferent to the well-being of humanity.
1751
The present has always been lamented, and the past praised.
1764
Axehead
ca. 3200–2000 BCE
[Under tyranny], virtues were death sentences. [...] the slave was the spy of his master, the freedman of his patron, the friend of his friend.
1758
When a man wants something he cannot name, it is very easy to make him believe he wants something else, and to divert the treasure of his energy toward something indifferent or evil.
1957
The diseases of the mind are not cured otherwise [than with time].
c. 1552-1553
I do not obey God, I unite with His will; it is out of devotion, not necessity, that I follow Him.
63-64 AD
The Trinity Adored by All Saints
1395
Genius is economical with its strength. He who has beautiful marble to carve should carve it with his master's tools.
1926
The only way to advance the sciences is to separate them well, to first take each one apart as a whole, and only then to try to consider them in their union.
1793
His whole duty is to think as he ought; and the order of thought is to begin with oneself, with one's author, and one's end.
1670
When one passes away with a body full of health and a soul full of tenderness, how could one not be an object of regret?
4th century BC
Head of a marble Aphrodite statuette
3rd century BCE
Even misfortune has its charms in great extremities; for this opposition of fortune elevates a courageous spirit, and makes it gather all its forces which it was not using.
1746
[Certain philosophers] claim that all bodies are primitively composed of indivisibles or atoms, which are infinite in number and in their forms.
c. 350 B.C.E.
The organ of touch is less perfect in [animals]; and consequently, it cannot be for them the occasional cause of all the operations that are observed in us.
1754
It would be impossible for there to be any failure in the world if the principles were not excellent; [...] there could be no disorder if there were not a primary and invariable rule.
c. 253-270 AD
Portrait of a Man
1750
When men receive some good from one of whom they expected only evil, they are much more grateful.
1855
This skill of promptly distracting others' attention and taking away their leisure to reflect on a fault is not the mark of a mediocre mind.
1636
Themistocles used to say [...] "that he had so far done nothing of note, since no one was envious of him."
c. 72-126 AD
Socialism will remain the essential character and the most formidable memory of the revolution [...]. The republic will appear from afar only as a means and not an end.
1893
Virgin and Child Enthroned
ca. 1345–50
The ancients, who knew that richness is the enemy of the sublime, would have stuck to [...].
1759-1774
One should never give full consent except to propositions that appear so evidently true that one cannot refuse it to them without feeling an inner pain and secret reproaches from reason.
1674-1675
We must not, therefore, treat the mind as if it were what it is 'for nothing, for pleasure'.
1932
It is by doing good that one becomes good; I know of no surer practice.
1762
Key
1st century CE
The Hegelian synthesis [...] is a pure production of thought, thus an imaginary and illusory production.
1841
Could I be another? A stranger to myself? [...] A fighter who has too often had to overcome himself?
1886
It is not the marvelous that should revolt us, but the absurd. [...] only what implies contradiction is demonstrably impossible.
1801
One finds [...] the fundamental, insurmountable antagonism between the mindset of the artist and that of the politician.
1896
Marble fragment of a stele (grave marker) of a youth
mid-4th century BCE
Therefore, do not seek to understand in order to arrive at faith, but begin by believing in order to arrive at understanding.
1263-1264
In the middle of a piece of amber [...] one sometimes sees insects that have been perfectly preserved there [...] as in a mausoleum.
1623
Men are not content with the obedience of women, they arrogate to themselves a right over their feelings. [...] they neglect nothing to enslave their minds.
1869
Thus, when a new doctrine is offered to us, we have every reason to be wary of it and to consider that before it came to be, the contrary doctrine prevailed.
1580
Madonna and Child with Saints Jerome and Mary Magdalen
ca. 1490
It does not seem that we were made to have a perfect, clear, and absolute knowledge of things; [...] that is perhaps well beyond the reach of any finite being.
1689
Do nothing with annoyance; never grieve, and never believe yourself to be in misfortune, for no one can force you into it.
c. 108 AD
Although only particular things exist, most words are nonetheless general terms.
1704
As [Plato] philosophized [...] in a place called the Academy, his followers kept the name Academics.
45 BC
Bronze cinerary urn with lid
ca. 500 BCE