I undertake to lay the foundations of the first philosophy, but without expecting any praise from the common people, nor hoping that my book will be seen by many.
1641
He who can dispose of the cause is the master of the effect.
1772
The care we ought to have, not to take for real happiness one which is but imaginary, is the necessary foundation of our Liberty.
1689
It is good that several people apply themselves to anatomy, since it is extremely useful to know it, and the knowledge to which we should aspire is that which is most useful to us.
1674-1675
Bronze statuette of a youth
4th–3rd century BCE
Clairvoyance is a confirmation of the Kantian doctrine of the ideality of space, time, and causality.
1836
That the force of this horror is limited, and equal to that with which water from a certain height [...] tends to flow downwards.
1647
It is to make the disciple flourish before the master was born.
45 BC
Doubt about what is not proven is the only reasonable course of action.
1752
The Bacino, Venice, with the Dogana and a Distant View of the Isola di San Giorgio
ca. 1709
Each substance is like a world apart, independent of every other thing but God; thus all our phenomena [...] are but consequences of our own being.
1686
On the limits of the Sovereign power.
1762
[The historian must] observe and scrutinize the movements of centuries, the characters of personages, the vacillations in councils [...].
1623
With freedom of morals, finally regained, life resumes its normal course; poetry is possible. If it does not flourish, it is henceforth without excuse.
1926
Marble portrait head of Antinoos
ca. 130–138 CE
The enumeration in this constitution of certain rights shall not be interpreted in a manner that excludes or weakens other rights retained by the people.
1835-1840
This flight [from evil] is the resemblance to God, as much as it is in our power; and one resembles God through justice, holiness, and wisdom.
c. 253-270 AD
True patriotism is made of concentric layers, whose center [...] is the love of family; without the latter, only a sordid association of interests remains.
1896
It is movement in space that creates time in human consciousness. Without movement, no time.
1890
Man Weighing Gold
ca. 1515–20
Every person maintains that equality is dictated by justice, unless they think that utility requires inequality.
1861
The human heart is such that any oppression brings it down, and any excitement lifts it up. [...] Proud of its freedom, and letting no one bind it, such is the human heart by nature.
4th century BC
[These are] the ceremonies that imprint upon some men a sacred character, which distinguishes them from profane mortals.
1766
What we honor with the name of peace is properly but a short truce, by which the weaker party renounces its claims [...].
1746
Portrait of a Young Man
1470s
Virtue or personal merit consists in the possession of qualities of the soul which are useful or agreeable, either to the person who possesses them, or to others.
1751
For us, there exist only two kinds of evidence: that of feeling and that of deduction.
1817
There is something in our soul that recoils from true attention much more violently than the flesh recoils from fatigue. This something is much closer to evil than the flesh is.
1942
We should therefore be full of confidence against death, and on our guard against the fear of death.
c. 108 AD
Peacocks
1683
Experience teaches me what exists and how it exists, but never that it must necessarily be so and not otherwise. It can therefore never make known the nature of things in themselves.
1783
To limit ourselves to looking within would be to turn our gaze away from the very reality we must reach; it would make it impossible for us to understand anything of the movement that carries the world around us.
1922
[Such a criticism] will greatly harm its author, who should expect neither the indulgence of the public nor that of his friends.
1741-1784
Reason has for its share the domain of truth and wisdom, as theology has that of piety and obedience.
1670
The Crucifixion
ca. 1495
I have often seen men who are uncivil through too much civility, and bothersome through courtesy.
1580
This eagerness soon turned the compassion his misfortunes had first inspired into jealousy [...].
100-120 AD
[The bourgeoisie] knew that the moment had to be seized and that, without the help of the working masses, it would be defeated; but it lacked the courage.
1851-1852
Good actions are sublimated evil actions: evil actions are good actions crudely, foolishly performed.
1878
Madonna and Child with Saints
1607
Men, being accustomed to judging events by their results, blame the author of the advice for all the evil that follows.
1513-1519
We should possess knowledge of the moral character proper to each government; for the best way to persuade is to observe the customs of each type of government.
329-323 BC
It is impossible to honor those one despises, nor to willingly obey those one hates and holds in horror.
c. 1552-1553
I see a light spread in all directions [...] which is not concentrated in a single point [...]. I find there, independently of any judgment, [...] the idea of extension with all its dimensions.
1746
Portrait of a Man
ca. 1470
You are going astray, this is the way to go.
1636
It is not in the order of things for superior substances to have recourse to inferior ones to attain their principal perfections.
1270
It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.
63-64 AD
If a man is willing to remain at his post and to defend himself against the enemy without running away, you may be sure that he is a man of courage.
c. 380 BC
James Stuart (1612–1655), Duke of Richmond and Lennox
ca. 1633–35