Silence [...] at first seemed the wisest course to take in this rather delicate circumstance.
1763
Mercy, rarely used and with judgment, is a beautiful and singular virtue in a prince; but ordinary clemency without distinction [...] is the complete subversion of all order.
c. 1552-1553
Fanaticism and enthusiasm form the basis of Christ's morality; the virtues he recommends tend to isolate men, to plunge them into a somber mood, and often to make them harmful to their fellow beings.
1766
Boredom, without a doubt, formerly played a part in the institution of chivalry.
1772
Bronze statuette of Osiris
664–31 BCE
To make oneself the object of universal hatred without profiting from it is a thoroughly imprudent and reckless course of action.
1513-1519
Servitude debases men to the point of making itself loved.
1747
But there is no one here reasonable enough to understand them [...].
1643-1649
Thus we are born free, as we are born rational; though we do not actually exercise either at first. Age that brings one, brings the other with it.
1690
The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes
ca. 1545–50
It is from this conflict [between dream and reality] that what has been called the romantic malaise is born, which sometimes goes as far as disgust for life.
1926
There is no finer sight than a city governed by a wise prince; while the most odious of all sights is to see it governed by a tyrant.
100-120 AD
He has a very good mind, but he is not a geometer (which is, as you know, a great flaw) and he does not even understand that a mathematical line is infinitely divisible.
1643-1662
[The diversion] is a shameless strategy for attacking your opponent.
1830-1831
The Holy Family with Saint Paul and a Donor
1430
The instinct for causality thus depends on the feeling of fear that produces it.
1888
To impose on the people what they please to call their experience, is that not worse than abandoning them to themselves?
4th century BC
My purpose [...] is to make of you men who are freed from all hindrance, all constraint, all obstacle, free, tranquil, and happy.
c. 108 AD
It will not be the imitators who, like cattle, follow the beaten path.
1704
Marble stele (grave marker) of a woman
ca. 375–350 BCE
Each language expresses the character of the people who speak it.
1746
The Assembly [...] was great as long as it had to fight; it only became wretched after the victory and when it felt itself collapsing from the very effect [...] of that victory.
1893
It is good to have a scrupulous friend who reminds you of your duties; but your conscience must be the head of your council.
1764
The more [ideas] extend to a great multitude, the fewer elements they contain specific to each individual.
1817
Steatite spindle whorl
ca. 2400–1900 BCE
[The ancient sages] regard sacred traditions as vague and instinctive premonitions of a higher truth [...] and attribute the obscurity that envelops them to the infancy of human thought.
c. 253-270 AD
Among these [meteorological] phenomena, some are inexplicable to us; others are accessible to us to a certain extent.
c. 334 BC
The errors [of the human mind] are corrigible. It is capable of rectifying its mistakes by discussion and experience. Not by experience alone: discussion is necessary to show how experience should be interpreted.
1859
It is conscience rather than pride that hides behind a doorkeeper.
63-64 AD
Terracotta group of women seated around a well head
2nd half of 4th century BCE
Truly, one would rob a great deal from a man, were he to be judged without the honor and greatness of his end.
1580
Modesty [...] announces a distrust of one's own judgment, & a suitable deference for that of others; this quality is, especially in young people, a sure sign of wit & sense.
1751
A single day spent following the precepts [of philosophy] is preferable to the immortality of one who strays from them.
45 BC
It was necessary for eternal wisdom to finally make itself perceptible to instruct men who question only their senses.
1674-1675
Terracotta plank-shaped figurine
ca. 1900–1800 BCE
I orient myself geographically, with all the objective data of the heavens, only with the help of a subjective ground of distinction.
1786
[Propositions] are sometimes made by reason of concomitance, [...] sometimes by reason of cause.
c. 1270
Time is not a line that one can travel over again.
1889
One could use [amber] to preserve [...] the bodies of illustrious men. This material [...] is quite rare; but great men are even rarer.
1623
Rodolfo Gonzaga (1451–1495)
1490
The more defined beliefs and practices are, the less room they leave for individual differences.
1893
To be just, one must be naked and dead. Without imagination.
1947
Therefore, what you are describing is not a part of virtue, but virtue as a whole.
c. 380 BC
The study of modes of production constitutes [...] the materialist suppression of philosophy.
1841
Terracotta mold of a grotesque figure
2nd–1st century BCE
'The poet is the conscious voice of what is unconscious in us.'
1896
Extraordinary actions can only come from a heart that is also extraordinary.
1636
Reason [...] counsels man to peace, and peace is possible only through obedience to the common law.
1670
Sovereignty, being nothing but the exercise of the general will, can never be alienated.
1762
Inscribed marble plaque
2nd–3rd century CE