There are as many differences of opinion, and as many burning discussions, about what is just as about what is useful to society.
1861
One must always begin with the simplest and easiest things, and dwell on them for a long time before undertaking the search for more complex ones.
1674-1675
One of the most powerful causes that have hindered the progress of science [...] is the recklessness of those whom excessive confidence in their own minds [...] has led to dogmatize about nature.
1620
[It is] the power that priests arrogate to themselves [...] to forgive, in the name of heaven, the sins confessed to them.
1766
Saint Francis of Assisi
ca. 1480–81
If I attach value to my body, I make myself a slave; if to my [wealth], a slave again.
c. 108 AD
Some have a prejudice not founded on reason; [...] they criticize that which contradicts their own thought.
c. 335 BC
All things are beautiful to behold, but dreadful in their being.
1851
The way in which a phenomenon develops expresses its nature; for two developments to correspond, there must also be a correspondence in the natures they manifest.
1895
Italian Landscape
ca. 1825–28
It is necessary to change with the times if one wishes to always have fortune on one's side.
1855
This truth was only momentary, and one had to be quick to say it.
1776
[A thoughtful man] perceives at a glance a host of serious consequences in things that seem very indifferent to the common man.
1740s
[He] had that natural quality which, according to Plato, constitutes literary and philosophical aptitude: he was capable of embracing all sciences, and disdained no kind of study or literary knowledge.
100-120 AD
Marble inscribed base
ca. 2nd century CE
He wanted to work more on touching and disposing the heart than on convincing and persuading the mind; because he knew that the passions [...] that corrupt the heart are the greatest obstacles [...] to faith.
1670
Day that comes so beautifully, a smile suddenly suspended over my city [...], how sweet it is for humans who receive your peace to see the day!
1968
Our homeland is on the heights, the path that leads to it is humble: he who refuses to follow the path, seeks the homeland in vain.
1263-1264
Why should we hate those who do evil, since it is error that drives them to it? It is not the part of a wise man to curse those who are mistaken.
c. 41 AD
Grainfields
mid- or late 1660s
The nature of this world is a mixture of intelligence and necessity. Its goods are what it receives from the divine; its evils come from the primordial nature.
c. 253-270 AD
If one wishes to dismiss [public rumors], one will first establish that many are false, and will cite examples that prove their deceit.
86-82 BC
Science retains and should retain from motion only its visual aspect.
1922
Oh, nothingness of human greatness! Oh, fragility of life! Are these the vain advantages for which, ever biased, we consume ourselves with toil?
1746
Louis Morau
1785
Who then could you reasonably consider more just than a man who has adapted to his present fortune, to the point of never needing what belongs to others?
4th century BC
Man is a god to man: the I and the Thou, that is the primitive pivot of his existence and his consciousness.
1841
To a sound judgment, the most abstract truth is the most practical.
1836
To say the same of a whole people is to suppose a people of madmen: madness creates no right.
1762
Limestone Bes
late 6th–early 5th century BCE
This verse tells the whole story of Oedipus.
1717
A good [leader] never has weapons that are too short; what they lack in length, their bravery knows how to supplement.
1636
This perfect friendship I speak of is indivisible: each one gives himself so entirely to his friend that he has nothing left to distribute elsewhere.
1580
[...] as long as the phenomena are connected, it does not matter whether we call them dreams or not, since experience shows that we are not mistaken in the measures we take based on phenomena [...].
1704
Terracotta statuette of an actor
late 5th–early 4th century BCE
I wish that those who make this objection remember that absolute Monarchs are but men.
1690
Great peril is like wine; it makes men tender.
1893
We exist only because we feel; we would not exist if we did not feel. Our existence consists in feeling it [...].
1817
There is nothing good, nothing beautiful, nothing sublime, nothing evil in itself, but rather states of soul which make us attribute such qualifiers to things outside of ourselves.
1881
Portrait of a Man in Royal Livery
1532–35
Objective validity and necessary universality (for everyone) are therefore reciprocal concepts [...].
1783
It is therefore only through good laws that one can form virtuous men.
1758
[The universal Being is] the source of all Beings, which produces them without distinction, [...] man costing no more to produce than the smallest worm or the slightest plant.
17th century
The favor [...] obliges me more than any I could receive from elsewhere.
1643-1649
The Nativity
ca. 1433–34
Where is the man who is not perfectly content with his way of life, and who would not believe himself unhappy to change it for that of his neighbor?
1742
He lets all beings evolve according to their destinies, and stands, himself, at the still center of all destinies.
4th century BC
...this body was merely a club, composed of dupes who had allowed the Governments to use them as parliamentary puppets to be exhibited for the amusement of shopkeepers and small tradesmen...
1851-1852
There is nothing false, nothing unworthy of being said and recommended in writing for times to come.
1574
Capriccio with St. Paul's and Old London Bridge
ca. 1745