All the efforts of disbelief were less to be feared than [indiscreet zeal]. Disbelief fights the proofs of Religion; [this zeal] tended to annihilate them.
1745
Should a god manifest himself to men, only to not be understood? Is this conduct not as ridiculous as it is insane?
1766
The sole defect, in a sense, of all works, is that they are too long.
1746
Good and evil, both natural and moral, are only a matter of taste and feeling.
1742
Portrait of a Man
1537
A frail individual can find a place within the complex framework of our social organization where it is possible for them to render services.
1893
The bosom of the inner man is the conscience of his heart. [...] When the conscience has drunk this divine liquor, it is purified and takes on a new life.
1263-1264
Either this cause is comprised in the nature and definition of the thing itself [...], or it is external to it.
1661-1676
It is much easier and more pleasant to follow than to lead [...] it is a great peace of mind to only have to follow a set path and to answer only for oneself.
1580
Portrait of a Man
1795
History [...] teaches us that all religions can be considered as political institutions that have a great influence on the happiness of nations.
1772
What is desirable is a good.
63-64 AD
There are passions that are all the more useful the more they lean toward excess, [provided] they are entirely good and subject to reason.
1643-1649
Adversity [...] is close to a good outcome when it becomes extreme.
1636
Sunset after a Storm on the Coast of Sicily
1853
The most common men reserve the violent, morose, openly selfish side of their character for those who do not have the power to resist them.
1869
He who treats as equals those whom the balance of power places far beneath him truly gives them the gift of the human quality of which fate deprived them.
1942
I therefore call a Republic any State governed by laws [...]: for then only does the public interest govern, and the public matter has substance.
1762
One finds [...] the fundamental, insurmountable antagonism between the mindset of the artist and that of the politician.
1896
Saint Bernardino
ca. 1460–70
He who does not have the style or ideas of everyone else is necessarily the common enemy.
1926
Order reigns in the universe because all things proceed from a single principle and conspire to a single end.
c. 253-270 AD
the art of persuasion consists as much in the art of pleasing as in that of convincing, so much more are men governed by caprice than by reason!
circa 1658
Pulverize jade and pearls, and there will be no more thieves. Burn the contracts, break the seals, and men will become honest again.
4th century BC
Olivier Journu (1724–1783)
1756
When you do not know if the action you are contemplating is good or bad, refrain from it.
1775
The self, infallible in its immediate findings, feels free and declares it; but as soon as it tries to explain its freedom, it no longer perceives itself except by a kind of refraction through space.
1889
All of morality is a long, audacious falsification, by which a pleasure in the sight of the soul becomes possible.
1886
The first reason for voluntary servitude is custom.
c. 1552-1553
Terracotta head with wreath
ca. 600–480 BCE
It is only through a just measure that one preserves both strength and health.
4th century BC
If the conversation revolves around a general concept that has no name, you must choose a metaphor favorable to your thesis.
1830-1831
Of individualism in democratic countries.
1835-1840
Displeasure is not simply a lack of pleasure; it is a positive cause that destroys [...] the pleasure resulting from another cause, which is why I call it a negative pleasure.
1763
Wall painting on red ground: candelabrum, from the imperial villa at Boscotrecase
last decade of the 1st century BCE
Nothing reveals the Principles of men better than their actions.
1689
[He], in my opinion, brought philosophy onto the stage, and taught it to speak so clearly that even the common audience finds itself able to understand and applaud it.
45 BC
Our goal is to open to the understanding an entirely new path, one that the ancients neither explored nor even knew.
1620
When the constitution of beings is different, their works are different, and their end is different.
c. 108 AD
The Forest at Pontaubert
1881
When you want a people or a prince to reject all settlement, there is no surer way [...] than to incite them to some grave treachery.
1855
The courts [...] have often put the innocent to death, and often acquitted the guilty whose language had moved their pity or flattered their ears.
4th century BC
One can conceive how much this new way of thinking dealt a blow to agriculture. Land prices fell.
1776
Expelled from France at the request of the Prussian government, he took refuge in Brussels.
March 17, 1883
Man Weighing Gold
ca. 1515–20
Do not, therefore, humanize divinity; never judge the infinitely perfect Being by yourselves.
1707
I am more immediately assured of my existence than of that of any other thing whatsoever.
1817
If, in these cases, the mere will of God is not a sufficient reason for acting in one particular way rather than another.
1715-1716
Envy is a feeling that one does not admit. [...] the only sickness of the soul that must be concealed.
c. 72-126 AD
Marble stele (grave marker) of a woman
ca. 375–350 BCE