The definition will generally be too broad. [...] It will have indicated a necessary condition. I do not believe it can [...] provide the sufficient condition.
1900
An injury done to a member of a political body engages the whole body to demand reparation.
1690
From the father, the child receives the will, the character; from the mother, the intellect. The latter is the liberating principle; the will, the binding principle.
1851
The only thing that is uncertain is whether [our] ideas truly conform to the beings of which we believe them to be images [...].
1805
Fragment of a limestone naiskos (?)
ca. 5th century BCE
He who subordinates reason and philosophy to theology is led to accept the prejudices of an ancient people as divine things.
1670
It takes great qualities to make a hero.
1636
He had nothing left but his honor and a little credit, two inestimable assets that he would never sacrifice.
1760-1779
Imprudence [...] excites one to defend others, while one neither knows how nor is able to protect oneself from danger.
1513-1519
Fantastic Landscape
ca. 1765
In the meantime, I cannot help but say that the author reasons in a most extraordinary manner, by comparing gravitation, which is a phenomenon or an actual fact, with the declination of atoms, according to the doctrine of Epicurus.
1715-1716
Metaphysical evil consists in simple imperfection, physical evil in suffering, and moral evil in sin.
c. 253-270 AD
[...] it would be like calling a contract the act of a man who says to another: 'I give you all my goods, on condition that you give me back what you please'.
1762
If we examine the virtues that Christianity recommends, we will see that they are ill-suited for man, that they raise him above his sphere, that they are useless to society, and that they are often of the most dangerous consequence for it.
1766
The Garter
1724
They produce, but do not hoard; they give, without demanding anything in return. Among them, there is neither etiquette nor ceremony.
4th century BC
One must leave the state of nature, in which each follows his own judgment, and unite with all others [...] in a common submission to an external, legal, and public constraint.
1797
One wants to believe, but does not know what to believe; for when one wants to know what one wants to believe [...] these phantoms [...] often go up in smoke.
1674-1675
If, by freely stating [...] the opinion I have of myself, I am to offend the judges, I would rather die.
4th century BC
Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte (1778–1851), Daughter of Louis XVI
1795
It is said that Socrates died very gently, as if falling asleep; I find that hard to believe.
1764
But what can be done to make children attentive? Let them have an interest in being so.
1772
April, the perfume of the gods, who, from the heavens, smell the scent of the plain.
1546/1563
[He] preferred to rush into the unknown [...] rather than abdicate a single particle of his independence.
1896
Marble statue of a member of the imperial family
27 BCE–68 CE
...without it being necessary to conclude from this that the people are very happy, very enlightened, or even very strong.
1835-1840
When two phenomena vary regularly with each other, this relationship must be maintained even if, in certain cases, one of them appears without the other.
1895
You promise to make me happy, and you want to use [...] reason and the rules of art. But does my happiness not depend on my internal constitution?
1742
The gait of one's sentences indicates if the author is tired.
1879
Nail
7000 BCE - 330 CE
If I were to live my life over again, I would live it as I have lived it; I do not regret the past, and I do not fear the future.
1580
To desire that the world not be, is to desire that I, as I am, be everything.
1947
If [the] value must vary from time to time, the variations are never abrupt, because uses always change slowly.
1776
This pity you are the object of, is it your doing or that of the people who pity you?
c. 108 AD
The Trinity Adored by All Saints
1395
The total quantity of matter is always the same and is susceptible to neither increase nor decrease.
1620
The fear shown by the new ministers in the face of the rebellious masses was such that any means seemed good to them, as long as it served to consolidate the shaken foundations of authority!
1851-1852
This day, which you dread as the last, is the birthday of an endless day.
63-64 AD
...the public good draws its strength from the particular faculties of its citizens.
100-120 AD
Horse and Buggy
1909
In times of trouble, the inhabitants of Paris were obliged, during the night, to place lit lanterns on their windows.
1662
The family is a school of despotism in which the virtues of despotism, but also its vices, are lavishly nourished.
1869
Preserve for the republic a citizen [...] for what such a man is worth.
59 BC
One must entirely deliver the mind from all sorts of sad thoughts, and even also from all sorts of serious meditations concerning the sciences.
1643-1649
Christ Blessing the Children
ca. 1545–50
One must not disapprove of all movement, [...] it is not the dance itself, but a poorly executed dance which is open to criticism.
c. 335 BC
A false thought is never well written, nor a just thought poorly written. There is something inseparable there.
1926
Every man is an animal, it does not follow that every animal is a man, for 'animal' says more than 'man'.
c. 1270
Our actions are neither as good nor as vicious as our intentions.
1747
Silver bust of Serapis
2nd century CE