I am poor, but I have a just opinion of poverty; what does it matter to me then that they pity me for my poverty!
c. 108 AD
Attention, deprived of objects worthy of it, is on the contrary forced to concentrate second by second on a petty, ever-repeating problem [...].
1934-1942
If, by freely stating [...] the opinion I have of myself, I am to offend the judges, I would rather die.
4th century BC
But when, on the contrary, one is the cause of this ignorance oneself [...] then one is guilty; and it is with reason that one is [...] responsible.
4th century BC
Marble fragment of a hero relief
late 5th century BCE
When men depart from the maxims of reason to embrace [...] an artificial life, no one can answer for what will please or displease them.
1751
Miracles seem to have been invented only to substitute for good reasoning; truth and evidence do not need miracles to be adopted.
1766
The cause of [...] these inconsistencies was in the harshness of character, in the excess of pride and stubbornness, a vice always odious to the crowd.
100-120 AD
The desire to travel took hold of me; and far from stifling it at its birth, [...] I lent an ear to all that could strengthen it.
1627
Gold lion-head pendant
2nd half of the 5th century BCE
I believe that the social relations between the two sexes, which subordinate one sex to the other in the name of the law, are wrong in themselves and now constitute one of the chief hindrances to human improvement.
1869
Men must attempt everything and be frightened of nothing, because God protects those who have courage [...].
1512-1527
A great heart, far from being puffed up by the most astonishing successes, constantly sighs for more.
1636
Why are we so eager for honors and dignities? It is because we love ourselves, [...] desire our own happiness, and consequently the power to procure it.
1772
Terracotta antefix (roof tile) with head of a maenad
late 4th century BCE
Imagination is memory itself, having reached all the vividness of which it is capable.
1754
If the universe is sympathetic to itself because it constitutes one animal, and if we are affected because we are contained within this one animal [...], why would continuity not be necessary for us to sense a distant object?
c. 253-270 AD
A judgment is therefore never false in itself; it can only be so in relation to others.
1817
It would be necessary for all men to be perfectly wise, so that, knowing what they ought to do, one could be assured of what they will do.
1643-1649
The Life and Miracles of Saint Godelieve
1475
Pascal renounced [...] including anything in a scientific study that would recall either the personality of the author or the personality of his predecessors.
1663
I speak of that laughter which comes from a certain idea, and not of that which [...] has no relation to good and evil.
c. 1660
Mystics are unanimous in testifying that God needs us, just as we need God. Why would He need us, if not to love us?
1932
The independent movement of the working classes was, for a time, interrupted by the Revolution itself.
1851-1852
Saint Michael the Archangel
1640s
No one wants to be pitied for their mistakes.
1747
'All that is good is light, all that is divine runs on delicate feet': the first thesis of my Aesthetics.
1888
To judge of things great and high, we must have a soul of the same kind; otherwise we attribute to them the vice that is our own.
1580
I may have recognized you as quickly as he did, but I refused to believe my instinct. We are watched, surrounded by tricks. I was protecting myself and protecting you.
1926
Bronze handle of a hydria (water jar)
4th century BCE
The life of a fool is one of ingratitude, anxiety, and a constant lurching toward the future.
63-64 AD
The Will [...] is determined in us by what I call uneasiness.
1689
[A government] is always strong when it can command the citizens; it is always weak when it is reduced to commanding only the local governments.
1835-1840
When the harmful does not outweigh the flaw, it makes one laugh; but if [the thing] is severe or dangerous, it will make no one laugh.
1740s
Rodolfo Gonzaga (1451–1495)
1490
Nature wanted to preserve us from science as a mother snatches a dangerous weapon from the hands of her child.
1750
Nature has provided other animals with clothing and weapons. [...] For man, [...] it has given him intelligence and hands, so that he could provide himself with what is necessary.
c. 1270
I do not say that matter and space are the same thing; I only say that there is no space where there is no matter; and that space in itself is not an absolute reality.
1715-1716
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
Terracotta statuette of a seated woman
late 6th–early 5th century BCE
Novels [...] have created [...] a whole false view of existence and awakened expectations that cannot be fulfilled. This very frequently exerts the most unfortunate influence on their entire life.
1909
May will boast of its coolness, its ripe fruits, and its fertile dew.
1546/1563
The greatest number of men [...] run after a few water bubbles, without taking the trouble to watch out for the trapdoors that cause their companions to fall one after the other, next to them, into the abyss [...].
1760
[The parliament] forbade [...] the teaching of any maxims against the ancient and approved authors, on pain of death.
1764
The Return of the Cattle
ca. 1773–75
Some have spoken all their lives without saying anything... Some, who were silent their whole lives, have spoken a great deal.
4th century BC
Consciences are only superficially in contact; they neither penetrate nor adhere strongly to one another.
1893
Whenever one consents to likelihoods, one certainly puts oneself in danger of being mistaken, and is indeed almost always mistaken [...].
1674-1675
The foundation of theology is the miracle, the will, the refuge of ignorance [...]; the foundation of philosophy is the nature of things, reason, the mother of law and necessity.
1842-1845
Bronze oinochoe (jug)
late 6th century BCE