When our [thing] is thus regulated and reformed, it will seem entirely new [...]. The abuses drove them away, and the reformation would call them back.
c. 1552-1553
A society of equals can only exist on the understanding that the interests of all are to be regarded equally.
1861
An excellent method for conquering liberty, to begin by imprisoning oneself in one's clothes!
1623
Everyone will very promptly find the solution to all the difficulties that might arise on this important matter.
1768
Terracotta antefix (roof tile) with head of a maenad
late 4th century BCE
Whoever is born to illuminate his century is always on his guard against the great.
1758
Most busy themselves seeking the origin of the evil; some say, 'The astrologers threaten us,' others, 'The prophets foretold it.'
1527
...the most favorable [experiments] show nothing other than that Nature has a horror of the void, not that She cannot suffer it.
1647
The principles of morality are everywhere the same, although the consequences that men draw from them are often very different.
1751
Schloss Milkel in Moonlight
ca. 1833–35
It is therefore an iniquitous exchange to make him buy at the price of his liberty his life, over which one has no right.
1762
[...] the senses are much more persuasive of real things than reasoning is.
1764
An interlocutor will thus often betray their position by the very terms they use.
1830-1831
The class of those who do not count—in any situation—in anyone's eyes... and who will never count, no matter what happens [...].
1934-1942
The French Comedians
ca. 1720
Error is the cause of men's misery; it is the evil principle that has produced evil in the world.
1674-1675
He who has only the bodily faculties for execution [...] must naturally obey and serve.
c. 350 BCE
A disorder that is acknowledged is always lighter, just as a disease tends towards its cure when it erupts [...] and brings its venom to the outside.
63-64 AD
The wicked are but an instrument in the maker's hand, that serves without knowing it [...]; the good, on the contrary, serve God consciously, and [...] thus they grow ever more perfect.
1661-1676
Relief from casket
670 BCE - 330 CE
He felt himself the equal of the masters only through admiration.
1926
Just because something seems true to someone is not a reason for it to be so.
c. 108 AD
The fear of the ultimate punishment pushed him [...] to great undertakings.
100-120 AD
It would be good to have private individuals capable of bearing the necessary costs. For a powerful lord would make himself the sole master of the affair, once he saw its success.
1675
Terracotta statuette of a veiled woman
2nd century BCE
Considering how many diverse opinions there can be on the same subject, [...] while it is impossible for more than one to be true, I held as almost false everything that was merely probable.
1637
Modern industry increasingly replaces complex labor with simpler labor for which no instruction is necessary.
1849
Agree [...] that we often act according to what we want, but that we never want except according to what we feel, or according to what we think.
1746
By setting [the fine], it would be to admit guilt.
4th century BC
Bronze handle of a hydria (water jar)
early 6th century BCE
If one denies the difference of the intellect among all men [...] it follows that nothing of men's souls remains after death [...] and that there is neither punishment nor reward.
1270
What does it matter to us? [...] He certainly wills today that you be good people, that should be enough for you; he has no will for you to be babbling sophists.
1764
In a monarchy, judicial offices must be for sale; because if they were not, intrigue would sell them, and the administration of justice would be sheer robbery.
1776
[...] the fall of souls [is compared] to the gaze cast by the young Bacchus into the mirror near which the Titans tear him apart.
c. 253-270 AD
Madonna and Child
ca. 1360–65
Considered up close, [the great men] were men whom love of their own interests made act against their conscience and nature; men whose acts are all worthy of the deepest contempt.
4th century BC
But there is only one way, one path to learn to know, and that is to love.
1896
The administration [...] resembles a machine in constant motion, whose cogs all move separately or hold each other in check. With much movement, it makes no progress.
1847
Whatever philosophers may say, even in the practice of virtue, the goal of our aspirations is pleasure.
1580
The Tears of Saint Peter
ca. 1612–13
Freedom [...] admits of degrees.
1889
Not every end is a goal. The end of the melody is not its goal; and yet, if the melody has not reached its end, it has not reached its goal. A symbol.
1879
Our entire existence consists in feeling, and we exist only through our sensations, both internal and external.
1817
What a pity one cannot do without them!
1775-1784
Dr. Brian Walton (born about 1600, died 1661)
1657
[The collective conscience] is something other than particular consciences, although it is only realized in individuals. It is the psychic type of society [...].
1893
Fortune cannot do much harm to one who has relied more on virtue than on chance.
86-82 BC
Far from feasting on acquired glory, [a great heart] forgets it to always seek a new one.
1636
[The federative power] must be left to the prudence and wisdom of those that have it, to be managed for the public good.
1690
Part of the left foot of a colossal marble statue
3rd–2nd century BCE