The individual is socialized [...] either because, having no individuality of his own, he merges with his fellows, or because he depends on them to the very extent that he is distinguished from them.
1893
The food that would satisfy a dwarf [...] would only whet the appetite of a giant.
1636
If the gates of Hell have truly not prevailed, it can only mean that the true faith still lives in secret in the hearts of a few hidden beings. But very well hidden.
1953
I do not want it to be some trifle, but the correctness of our judgments, that produces this effect on us.
c. 108 AD
Portrait of a Young Woman
ca. 1540–45
The way of influence is that of common philosophy; but, as one cannot conceive of material particles that could pass from one of these substances to the other, this view must be abandoned.
1696
The darkening of the sky over man has always increased in proportion to the shame man has felt at the sight of man.
1887
An action is the perfection and publication of thought.
1836
The copyist, unintelligent or inattentive, has lost [...] the author's meaning.
c. 1552-1553
Mother and Child
probably 1860s
Besides numerical multiplicity there is another, which includes neither precise distinction nor juxtaposition.
1890
Those who claim to know the ultimate, that is, the first reasons of things [...] are jokers, braggarts, not to say charlatans.
1819
He lost his pensions for having told what he believed to be the truth.
1751
There is still a long way to go from promises to effect.
1643-1649
Bronze handle of a hydria (water jar)
ca. 460–450 BCE
Just as there is nothing sweeter [...] than to entertain our reasons and approve of our opinions, there is also nothing so shocking as to see that they are not understood.
1674-1675
Not only are these raindrops pure phenomena, but even their round shape and the very space in which they fall are nothing in themselves.
1781
Our ideas are subject to error only through the judgments that mix with them; and yet our judgments are in themselves as immune to error as all our other perceptions.
1805
To finally know if one can indeed know anything, it was necessary, instead of arguing on this point, to decide it by experience.
1620
Saint Bernardino Preaching from a Pulpit
ca. 1470–75
Universal Providence consists in the universe being in conformity with Intelligence, and Intelligence being anterior to the universe, [...] not in time, [...] but because Intelligence precedes by its nature the world which proceeds from it.
c. 253-270 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
Classical paganism was characterized by unity; dualism, division, disagreement in all things are the character of Christianity.
1842-1845
The predicaments belong to the first operation of the intellect, in which there is no composition by being, nor any division by non-being.
c. 1270
Spoon probe
3900 BCE - 100 CE
The unequal distribution [of wealth] is therefore a necessary consequence of its introduction into a state.
1772
The splendor of true glory, the majesty of a great soul [...] appear to be a gift of virtue; the rest is but a loan from fortune.
46 BC
As long as the heart of man is as it is, it will never be totally indifferent to the well-being of humanity.
1751
[The beautiful one], knowing she is beautiful, strikes a pose, which makes us deliberately ignore her beauty; while [the ugly one], knowing she is ugly, effaces herself, which makes us deliberately ignore her ugliness.
4th century BC
Saint Michael the Archangel
1640s
It is a beautiful thing for a man to complete his life before dying, and then to wait in security for the days he has left to live.
63-64 AD
Despair is the greatest of our errors.
1746
We shape plants by cultivation, and men by education.
1762
One must be very careful [...] not to measure men's baseness by the degree of their submission to sovereign power: that would be to use a false standard.
1856
Saints John the Baptist and Matthew
possibly 1433
The amount of metal absorbed by the national circulation and the amount sent abroad for international circulation varies every day.
1865
A thing does not please the gods because it is good; but it is good because it pleases the gods.
1770
Never did a man rush into danger with more audacity, nor emerge from it with more prudence.
1512-1527
I would rather see my daughter dead than the wife of a tyrant.
100-120 AD
Terracotta antefix (roof tile) with head of a maenad
late 4th century BCE
[The goal is to] guide and light up at night those who wish to use the service to come and go wherever they please.
1662
To demand that men should constantly use words in the same sense [...] would be to imagine that all men should have the same notions, and speak only of things of which they have clear and distinct ideas.
1689
That is why all the other actions of our life must be judged and tested by this final stroke.
1580
Philosophers, to account for the phenomena of sight, have supposed that we form certain judgments of which we have no consciousness.
1746
Limestone hand holding a pyxis and a branch of leaves
3rd–1st century BCE
The people, consequently, may desire to oppress a part of their number; and precautions are as much needed against this as against any other abuse of power.
1859
Men [...] are naturally enemies, so that however bound they may be by social institutions, they remain what nature has made them.
1677
Thus, all is mystery, all is magic, all is incomprehensible in the dogmas, as well as in the worship of a revealed religion [...] which wanted to draw mankind from its blindness.
1766
The imagination [...] cannot occur without sensation.
384–322 BC
Element
7000 BCE - 330 CE