Stop trying to forcibly introduce your artificial virtues that are contrary to nature.
4th century BC
Health, as the identical state, forgets itself, for in it one is not concerned with the body; the difference from the body only begins in sickness.
1841
God as a merciful being.
1841
It is much better to be entirely delivered from a false hope than to be uselessly sustained by it.
1643-1649
Bronze statuette of a priest or offrant
3rd–1st century BCE
The continuation of the righteousness of the faithful is nothing other than the continuation of the infusion of grace, and not a single grace that endures forever.
1656-1657
Such a remedy [general education] would therefore only make specialization harmless by making it intolerable and, consequently, more or less impossible.
1893
What profusion! what audacity! what insane splendor! Meanwhile the poor, hungry, naked, sick, [...] languishes before your eyes, covered in disgrace [...].
1746
My goal is that my will shall be in harmony with nature.
c. 108 AD
Bronze handles of a hydria (water jar)
early 5th century BCE
For respect [...] there is only one possibility of indirect expression, which is provided by the needs of men in this world, the earthly needs of the soul and the body.
1957
He would have felt no pain [...] if peace had been born in his house, and if he had been able to quietly await the moment of his ruin.
1518-1527
We cannot increase our union with sensible things without diminishing the one we have with intelligible truths.
1674-1675
To be truly clever, one must avoid appearing so and sometimes even seem a fool.
1609
Bronze batillum (incense shovel)
late 1st–early 2nd century CE
Whether fortune has stripped a citizen of his possessions, or injustice has stolen them from him; if his reputation is spotless, honor consoles him for his poverty.
81 BC
There are always some, better born than others, who feel the weight of the yoke and cannot restrain themselves from shaking it off; who never become accustomed to subjection.
c. 1552-1553
Men, [...] being all naturally free, equal, and independent, no one can be removed from this state and subjected to the political power of another without his own consent.
1690
One enjoys less what one obtains than what one hopes for, and one is only happy before being happy.
1761
Head of a marble Aphrodite statuette
3rd century BCE
In these perilous encounters, courage is a good escort.
1636
[The era of '89 was a] time of youth, enthusiasm, pride, of generous and sincere passions, which, despite its errors, men will eternally remember, and which [...] will disturb the sleep of all who wish to corrupt or enslave them.
1856
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
Our judgments are never false except through the imperfection of our memories.
1805
Limestone male figure in Egyptian dress
mid-6th century BCE
The less a man is fitted for the possession of power, [...] the more he congratulates himself on the power which the law gives him.
1869
I need not prove anything, unless one demands that I prove that God is skillful enough to use this preemptive artifice.
1696
To get a clear idea of the elements of Natural Law and Politics, it is important to know the nature of Man.
1772
All that exists in the universe is the product of the mixture of the infinite and the finite.
c. 360 BC
Bronze phiale (libation bowl) with four swinging handles
ca. 550 BCE
In the darkness one sees fire, the stars, and their shapes. No one could claim that, in this case, the forms of objects, being imprinted on the dark air, are transmitted to the eye.
c. 253-270 AD
Do you take philosophers for magicians, whose occult art can teach you things that surpass ordinary understanding?
1742
Glory follows merit as infallibly as the shadow follows the body, although, like the shadow, it sometimes walks in front, sometimes behind.
1851
The more joyful and self-assured the mind becomes, the more a person unlearns loud laughter; in its place, an intellectual smile constantly appears [...].
1879
Saint Francis
1450s
Whoever [...] indifferently takes everything in Scripture for a universal doctrine [...] must necessarily confuse the opinions of the people with celestial doctrine, [and] take the fictions [...] of men for divine teachings.
1670
It would have been better to take as leader [...] the last of one's own, than the first of foreigners: this at least should be the thought of those who value nobility [...].
100-120 AD
The reader feels how easy and tedious it would be to declaim on these matters.
1751
[The wise] are the legislators not of one city, but of the entire human race.
c. 62-65
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt
1530
The ruler owes the nations truth as something useful, and freedom of the press as a means of discovering it.
1772
Seek out public scenes; be observers in the streets, in the gardens, in the markets, in the houses, and there you will get true ideas of the real movement in the actions of life.
1766
One should only descend into a special science after having considered all the others from above, in their general outlines.
1882
Athens was to abuse the hegemony that had been spontaneously devolved to it; and from then on it gathered against itself the jealousies and hatreds that later led to the fratricidal war.
c. 350 B.C.E.
Still Life with Roses and Fruit
1863
The forms that give utility to raw materials give them value.
1776
Everyone is much more jealous of the advantages of the mind than of the estimable qualities of the will, and [...] no one would hesitate for a moment to declare for [knavery] rather than for [foolishness].
1764
If a woman truly loses her virginity only with pleasure...
1926
It is great self-love and presumption to esteem one's opinions so highly that, to establish them, one must overthrow a public peace and introduce so many inevitable evils [...].
1580
The Crucifixion
ca. 1325–30