Let us rather study the ancients, steep ourselves in their spirit, and try to do [...] what they themselves would do if they lived among us.
1911
If it [commerce] were not free, it would degenerate [...] into a state of convulsion, which, by causing prices to rise and fall without rule [...] would spread disorder in fortunes.
1776
Proletarian revolutions [...] criticize themselves constantly, interrupt themselves continually in their own course, come back to the apparently accomplished in order to begin it afresh.
1851/1852
The sole end for which mankind are warranted [...] in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. [...] The only legitimate purpose is to prevent harm to others.
1859
The Flight into Egypt
1470s
The same things that seem detestable in humans [...] can be viewed in animals with admiration.
1661-1676
Do you know the surest way to make your child miserable? It is to accustom him to getting everything.
1762
However, who can be sure of what goes on in the hearts of kings, and of what determines their will?
1746
Is not pleasure most often an absence of pain?
c. 360 BC
Marble head of a woman wearing diadem and veil
425–400 BCE
It is fine to give bread, clothing, medicine [...] to one's brothers; but what need has a saint for gold and diamonds?
1764
The first reason for voluntary servitude is custom.
c. 1552-1553
Our senses, our faculties, and our organs are so arranged that they may serve us for the necessities of this life, and for what we have to do in this world.
1689
You are going astray, this is the way to go.
1636
The Adoration of the Shepherds
probably after 1520
Sad mortals, miserable playthings of events! Be very proud of your happiness, of your virtue!
1757
I have always thought that in revolutions [...] madmen, not those to whom we give the name by courtesy, but the real ones, have played a very considerable political role.
1893
If he is a man, he is an animal; if he is an animal, he is a substance; but he is a man, therefore he is a substance.
c. 1270
[The true leader] does not wait for power to be conferred upon him: he uses his own strength when circumstances require it.
100-120 AD
The Annunciation
ca. 1585
I find little to choose between knowing only how to speak badly, and knowing nothing but how to speak well.
1580
To get a clear idea of the elements of Natural Law and Politics, it is important to know the nature of Man.
1772
The idea of duty is inseparable from that of rights: a duty is what, in one being, corresponds to the rights of another. Where there are no rights, there are no duties.
1797
[...] one must not despise any truth.
1704
Key
1st century CE
The Rhine flows north, the Rhone south, yet these two rivers spring from the same mountain, and are consequently driven by the same principle...
1751
He who wants to become a child must also overcome his youth.
1883-1885
For a time, one must despise all plausible opinions; [...] not dwell on the strongest conjectures; [...] neglect the authority of all philosophers.
1674-1675
no protection has ever preserved a Book from the blows of Criticism.
1627
Hinge
3900 BCE - 100 CE
What makes the tragedy of my current destiny is that my boldest undertakings must serve to make me a living.
1896
Will you not leave other men aside, and be your own disciple and your own master?
c. 108 AD
It is, in effect, a matter of deciding whether the severe economy of a simple and rustic life can defend itself against luxury and license.
81 BC
The only stable constitution is that which grants equality in proportion to merit, and which knows how to guarantee the rights of all citizens.
c. 350 BCE
Young Man and Woman in an Inn
1623
Whenever we are faced with a governmental apparatus endowed with great authority, we must seek the reason for it [...] in the nature of the societies they govern.
1893
It is the characteristic of a great power to make evils themselves serve the accomplishment of its work, to use to produce other forms things that have become formless.
c. 253-270 AD
[In a revolution], the [bad poet] would have had the [good critic] beheaded.
1926
I have rid myself of all desire to be called learned [...]. Whether what they say is true or false, to let men speak is to spare oneself the trouble of answering them.
4th century BC
Nail
7000 BCE - 330 CE
The power [of tyrants] is founded only on human ignorance and imbecility.
1758
Every honest act is voluntary: bring to it laziness, murmurs, hesitation, fear, and it loses its great merit, self-satisfaction.
63-64 AD
To express a judgment, one must state the two ideas, one of which contains the other, plus the act of the mind that perceives this relationship. [...] This is what constitutes a proposition.
1803
[A force] can indeed carry [things] very fast, but not make them collide with other hard bodies; which would be required to break them.
1643-1649
Saint Francis
1450s
[Some doctrines are] among those that can only be taught by word of mouth, and a written discourse on the matter would be as much or more useless and cumbersome.
1642-1645
Thus every lover, after the complete accomplishment of the great work, finds that he has been duped; for the illusion that made him the dupe of the species has vanished.
1819
[An author]: his genius and his errors.
1855
Each professional group creates for itself a morality by virtue of which the exercise of the profession [...] is beyond the reach of evil.
1934
Man Weighing Gold
ca. 1515–20