The universal Propositions of which we can have certain knowledge of their truth or falsehood do not relate to existence.
1689
Men are driven from one ambition to another; they first seek to secure themselves from offense, and then to oppress their rivals.
1855
With freedom of morals, finally regained, life resumes its normal course; poetry is possible. If it does not flourish, it is henceforth without excuse.
1926
In our days we see wars that are less frequent, but more just; actions less astonishing, but more heroic; victories less bloody, but more glorious [...].
1750
Terracotta head of a woman
late 4th–early 3rd century BCE
The whole inferiority of the animal lies there: it is a specialist. It does what it does very well, but it cannot do anything else.
1882
An intimate society between people who are radically different from each other is a pure reverie. Difference may attract, but it is resemblance that retains.
1869
The favor [...] obliges me more than any I could receive from elsewhere.
1643-1649
Power and hatred are two things [...] put together on earth.
62-65 AD
Terracotta woman baking bread
ca. 600–480 BCE
There are fashionable whims which, for a time, become the whims of an entire people.
1751-1772
In the domain of the moral law, I can only look at my fellow men from one perspective: as instruments of Reason.
1840
If, because of the body, we are surrounded by evils, God has nevertheless given us virtue, which has no master.
c. 253-270 AD
It very often happens that God uses external means to make [holy things] understood and to leave all the less material for human vanity.
1656-1657
Portrait of a Man
1781
The acts that morals alone repress are not of a different nature from those punished by law; they are only less serious.
1893
[My own existence] consists in what I feel.
1817
It is not the largest population, considered in itself, that should be the judge of a State's prosperity.
1776
He who has not gotten to the bottom of things, however ancient he may be, is not in my eyes an authority [...].
4th century BC
Marble female figure
4500–4000 BCE
The sinner always becomes the slave of the priest; it is the multiplication of sins that favors the trade in indulgences [...] and increases the power and wealth of the clergy.
1772
Once the main dogmas and principles of religion have been [...] entirely removed from the examination of reason; only then is it permissible to deduce [...] consequences from them.
1623
There is nothing so unjust as the complaints of those who want to know everything and want to apply themselves to nothing. They [...] want to be moved always, and for their senses and passions to be incessantly flattered.
1674-1675
[These societies] knew that the overthrow of an established government was but a passing stage in the great impending struggle, and their purpose was to prepare [...] the party [...] for the final, decisive battle which must one day or another put an end to the domination [...] of capital over labor.
1851-1852
Portrait of a Woman
1775
In public, do not encroach: do not claim for yourself what belongs to all.
c. 108 AD
To be revolutionary, is it to call for with one's wishes and to help with one's actions all that can [...] lighten or lift the weight that crushes the mass of men, [...] to refuse the lies [...]?
1934
You must never have spared yourself; hardness must be part of your habits to be joyful and in good spirits amidst hard truths.
1888
One must exhort the living to imitate the virtue of the dead and to console their descendants.
c. 387 BC
Limestone cippus of Philon
ca. 2nd–3rd century CE
Indeed, how could we give sense and meaning to concepts if some intuition [...] were not subordinated to them?
1786
All good maxims are in the world, [...] one only has to apply them; but that is very difficult.
1746
If pain is violent, it is short; if it is long, it is light.
1580
One could not stand his pride or his stubbornness, that companion of solitude.
100-120 AD
The Annunciation
ca. 1585
The most abstract thoughts require some imagination.
1702
The inclinations of the heart are like sure paths; as soon as they are known, everything is paved, everything is open to take possession.
1636
Homer is not only the greatest of poets; he is also the most philosophical. A country that produces such masterpieces so early is destined to later create all the wonders of science.
c. 350 B.C.E.
[...] or I know little of the depths of your soul.
1741-1784
Mademoiselle Nys
1899
A harvest of scents and flowers, perfuming the air and the earth.
1546/1563
Democracy, which destroys [...] old social conventions [...] only modifies [natural feelings], and often gives them an energy and a gentleness they did not possess.
1835-1840
You dared to speak thus, O you, of all men the most.... For I do not know what name to give you that would be worthy of your character.
86-82 BC
God as a moral being or law.
1841
The Madonna of Humility, the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Pietà
ca. 1465
While they seek all means to act as they please, [men] find a course of action that has general approval and which no one had previously thought of.
1677
The sight of God requires silence and secrecy.
1263-1264
[I wanted] to show the uncertainty of all our judgments on the characters of men, and [...] that customs, fashion, and laws are what primarily determine matters of morality.
1751
Human life can be compared to a race [...] where one has no other goal and no other reward than to outpace one's competitors.
1772
Top of a marble funerary relief with portrait busts of a young man and an elderly woman
ca. 138–141 CE