[...] the religious question served as a pretext for the exercise of many selfish passions.
c. 1552-1553
He lets all beings evolve according to their destinies, and stands, himself, at the still center of all destinies.
4th century BC
This whirlwind we call the world is so frivolous, abounds in so many errors, that only the thoughtless who do not know it are permitted to love its clamor.
1718-1778
Truth [...] means nothing other than the joining or separating of signs, according as the Things themselves agree or disagree with one another.
1689
Scene in a Harem (Un Envoi de Serbie)
1876
We call contingent the effects of which we see the cause, without seeing the chain of causes of that cause.
1805
[A] generosity [...] which is rare [...] in a first-rate mind, whose reputation usually shields it not only from the judgment of others, but even from its own.
1686
What makes the tragedy of my current destiny is that my boldest undertakings must serve to make me a living.
1896
We are inclined to regard value as an absolute quality, inherent in things independently of the judgments we make, and this confused notion is a source of bad reasoning.
1776
Implement, cone-shaped
7000 BCE - 330 CE
This is why so few learned people possess the sound common sense that is so frequently found among the illiterate.
1909
If it is good for you to drink it, then drink it; [...] If it is good for you, and you drink it, do not speak of it before those who do not like things done differently from them.
c. 108 AD
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
If fortune has abandoned you, it will not be said that I have done as she has.
1796
Terracotta plaque
27 BCE–68 CE
By selling the commodity at its value, [...] the capitalist must necessarily derive a profit from the sale.
1865
If in any matter true premises lead to a false conclusion, [...] then it will no longer be a true syllogism; it is called a useless chain.
c. 1270
The divinity, forced by the magical power of a few words, [...] obeys the voice of its priests [...] and, upon their orders, it performs wonders.
1766
Only that which has no history can be defined.
1887
Limestone inscribed relief fragment
3900 BCE - 100 CE
It is not desirable for the nation to be sovereign, but only for justice to be.
1957
Our passions are not susceptible to those impressions that come from the refinement of the mind and imagination.
1751
As often happens, one clearly separates the religious idea, religious art, and religious ceremonies from the detested idea of the clergy.
1926
Repressive law corresponds to the heart, the center of the common conscience; [...] restitutive law originates in very eccentric regions.
1893
Annunciation in an Initial M
ca. 1310–15
Why does a man submerged in water not feel the weight of the liquid medium?
1663
I fully agree that God is in no way angry and that everything happens according to his decrees.
1661-1676
The practical philosopher is one who takes the final end of reason as the principle of his actions, and who moreover possesses the necessary knowledge for it.
1797-1798
The greed of men is insatiable: at first, they are content with two obols; once they have made it a patrimony, their needs increase endlessly [...].
c. 350 BCE
María Teresa (1638–1683), Infanta of Spain
1651–54
The mind must judge all things according to its inner lights, without listening to the false and confused testimony of its senses and its imagination.
1674-1675
I do not fear that you will be changed, but that your progress will be hindered. To stop is already to do great harm.
63-64 AD
The source of our passions [...] is self-love: a primitive, innate passion, prior to all others, and of which all others are, in a sense, only modifications.
1762
Any man who concentrates on study [...] lives isolated in the midst of the world. He is always himself, and almost never others; he must therefore almost always appear ridiculous to them.
1758
Pendant: Head of Acheloos?
5th century BCE
Decrees make of secondary laws something as rapid and as irresistible as the passions of a multitude.
1835-1840
The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest people of past centuries who were their authors.
1637
Absolute rest, driven out by the understanding, is restored by the imagination.
1922
Despair is the greatest of our errors.
1746
Madonna and Child with Saint Catherine of Siena and a Carthusian Donor
ca. 1411–24
[Such men] have a supernatural confidence in their fortune; thus, he said that one must execute, not deliberate upon, great enterprises.
1580
A quick mind is [...] like the salt and the charm of all beautiful qualities; and with regard to great perfections, it is like their brilliance.
1636
The city is what it is because our citizens are what they are.
c. 375 BC
Any man who has managed to deeply understand human nature can always be the architect of his own fortune, and is born to command.
1609
Limestone funerary stele of a boy
3900 BCE - 100 CE
The reasoning that leads one to think that the senses cannot provide exact guarantees [...] does not suppress for us the evidence of each object. [...] It is enough to ask for their support [...] since we have nothing better at our disposal.
1st Century A.D.
What was at first a mere brute fact becomes a legal right, guaranteed by society, supported and protected by social forces [...].
1869
It is impossible, once blood has been shed [...] that a peace imposed by force can last for long.
1513-1519
Light is not the quality of a subject; it is the act that emanates from a subject, but does not pass into another subject; only, if another subject is present, it will experience an affection.
c. 253-270 AD
Wall painting: frieze supporting trellis, from the imperial villa at Boscotrecase
last decade of the 1st century BCE