Kant did not tolerate lulls: it was the name he gave to momentary pauses in conversation when its liveliness languished. He always found some way to rekindle the interest.
1827
Look upon the faculties that are within you, consider them, and say: 'Send now [...] whatever circumstances you please; for I have resources [...] to make honorable use of all events.'
c. 108 AD
There is nothing which is, in itself, beautiful or ugly, worthy of love or hatred [...] these different qualifications depend solely on the sentiments and affections of each man [...].
1742
When [two people] argue, it is because, believing they understand each other, they do not really understand each other completely.
1805
Virgin and Child
ca. 1485
It is with reason that the Philosophers place Riches in intelligible things, and Poverty in sensible things.
c. 253-270 AD
It is certainly a kind of injury to philosophy to constrain it [...] to plead its case on every occasion regarding the consequences it entails, and to justify itself to every art and science it happens to offend.
1841
The greatest difference that exists between a friend and a mercenary is that the lure of the latter is interest, while the attraction of the former is moral honesty and wisdom in discourse.
100-120 AD
The social state is at once so natural, so necessary, and so habitual to man [...] that he never conceives himself otherwise than as a member of a body.
1861
Head of a comic figurine
late 4th–3rd century BCE
Nature [...] demands of us not only a commendable use of our activity, but also a noble use of our leisure.
c. 350 BCE
The secret of our kinship with God must be sought in our mortality.
1947
The first teachers of mankind were not enlightened enough to explain to the people what these phantoms were, but they did not fail to tell them what they thought of them.
17th century
An injury done to a member of a political body engages the whole body to demand reparation.
1690
The Crucifixion
ca. 1325–30
It is a greater miracle [...] to have healed the diseases of the soul than to have remedied the ailments of this perishable and mortal body.
1263-1264
Others spend their lives doubting and arguing, without bothering about the subjects of their disputes and their doubts.
1746
Since baths have become so clean, bodies are filthier than ever.
63-64 AD
Self-love, which regards only ourselves, is content when our true needs are satisfied; but vanity (amour-propre), which compares, is never content [...].
1762
Portrait of a Venetian Senator
ca. 1525
[The Datery is] a sacred office where, in exchange for money, one can receive benefices, dispensations, graces of the Holy Spirit, and even the right to commit sins.
1768
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
The straightest tree will be the first to be cut down. The well with the sweetest water will be the first to run dry. Your knowledge scares the ignorant, your enlightenment offends the fools.
4th century BC
I will follow the good party to the fire, but only to the fire, if I can.
1580
Circus Sideshow (Parade de cirque)
1887–88
Sickness is the natural state of the Christian.
1670
Wealth should not give rise to pride, nor to idleness; it should only be an instrument in the service of virtue.
c. 387 BC
One must never give full consent except to propositions that appear so evidently true that one cannot refuse it without feeling an inner pain and secret reproaches from reason.
1674-1675
Nothing is less complex than the despotic government of a barbarian chief; the functions it fulfills are rudimentary and few in number.
1893
Terracotta statuette of an actor
late 5th–early 4th century BCE
[...] his soul, which is good, will win over his head; he will end up not replying to me, and loving me more.
1741-1784
[Passion possesses] such vividness that it obscures and does not allow all those [representations] which could act to the contrary as opposing motives to reach the understanding.
1839
Philosophy is not a cosmo-theogony [...]. It is the science of silent spirits, of the principles and laws that direct nature and humanity.
1842-1845
[The meadows], in a variegated mood, embellish with a thousand flowers of color their dappled adornment.
1546/1563
Monsieur de Bellefourière
1521
The desire for happiness [...] must force one to indulge in vice when, by the form of government, wealth, honors, and felicity are its rewards.
1772
It is always pleasure and pain that are the prime mover of [our] faculties.
1754
Martyrs make proselytes: the execution of such a man made more reformers than the books of Calvin.
1756
When a great danger has arisen [...], it is better to temporize with the evil than to confront it head-on.
1855
Terracotta head with wreath
ca. 600–480 BCE
One must distinguish between what is necessary to support our knowledge, and what serves as the foundation for our received doctrines or our practices.
1704
Considered in themselves, deep conscious states have no relation to quantity; they are pure quality; they intermingle in such a way that one cannot say whether they are one or several [...].
1889
Aristotle [...] recognizes [Zeno of Elea] as the inventor of dialectics.
45 BC
One must save the sharpness and brilliance of the mind for subjects that deserve it, just as the lion reserves its efforts for dangers worthy of it.
1636
Bronze statuette of a comic actor
ca. 1st–2nd century CE
There is no social state or law that can make men so similar that education, fortune, and tastes do not place some difference between them.
1835-1840
One understood that the conversation was over, and he took his leave, with a knowing smile, [...] promising the most absolute secrecy.
1926
It would be necessary for all men to be perfectly wise, so that, knowing what they ought to do, one could be assured of what they will do.
1643-1649
science, spurred by its powerful illusion, speeds irresistibly to its limits, where its optimism [...] is wrecked and shattered.
1872
Marble statue of a kouros (youth)
ca. 590–580 BCE