If, indeed, there were an infinite body, [...] this body would not be in 'where' (ubi).
c. 1270
Science and its object differ from opinion and its object, in that science is universal and proceeds by necessary propositions, and the necessary cannot be otherwise than it is.
c. 350 BCE
If it is important on one hand that every citizen can live from their work, it is certain on the other that we will not be able to provide occupation for all, unless the arts have made new progress.
1776
Their nature is much easier to conceive when we see them gradually come into being in this way, than when we consider them only as already made.
1637
View of the Seine
1882–83
Impertinence is not irony.
1926
Only truth and evidence can stop the agitation of the mind [...]. Lies and error can only divide and agitate [minds].
1674-1675
Virtue is in conformity with nature; vices are contrary and hostile to it.
63-64 AD
[...] Caesar's wife must be free not only from any shameful action, but also from any suspicion.
100-120 AD
Two Young Girls at the Piano
1892
Marriage is the only real servitude recognized by our laws. There are no longer any slaves by law except for the mistress of each house.
1869
The greater part of human knowledge [...] exists only on paper [...]. Only a small part of this knowledge is, at any given moment, truly alive in certain minds.
1905
Without resources within himself, it is from the outside that he awaits his happiness.
1772
— I will cut off your head. — When did I ever tell you that I was the only one whose head could not be cut off?
c. 108 AD
Venus and the Lute Player
ca. 1565–70
Ronsard and Baïf praised him.
c. 1552-1553
In the secondary States, where things had taken a comparatively quiet turn, the bourgeoisie had long since thrown themselves back into that noisy, but fruitless, parliamentary agitation which was most congenial to them.
1851-1852
What makes American laws in this matter so formidable, stems, I dare say, from their very gentleness.
1835-1840
Whoever holds to their freedom must renounce the comforts of the body. Whoever holds to their life must renounce dignities. Whoever holds to union with the Principle must renounce all attachment.
4th century BC
Bronze statuette of Athena
ca. 2nd–3rd century CE
Inner tranquility, the testimony of a good conscience, irreproachable morals, a pure and innocent life are things essential to our happiness.
1751
I was dethroned in the cradle; my father and mother were imprisoned; I was raised in prison...
1759
Machiavelli commented on by Napoleon Bonaparte, a manuscript found in Bonaparte's carriage after the Battle of Waterloo.
1855
The reverse of truth has a hundred thousand shapes and a limitless field.
1580
Two gutti from a group of fragments from the Temple of Apollo at Phigaleia (Bassae)
5th century BCE
This ridiculous opinion was no sooner divulged than legislators used it to support their authority.
17th century
There are acts that public opinion imposes, others that it leaves to private initiatives. The latter are therefore gratuitous and free.
1893
Do you not know that virtue is a state of war, and that to live in it, one must always fight some battle against oneself?
1761
Without realizing it, one sometimes substitutes for the supposedly mobile system a multiplicity of distinct systems [...], which one nevertheless continues to treat as a single system.
1922
The Lamentation over the Dead Christ
1370–88
He believes that he alone has a monopoly on wealth and power.
79 BC
As governments [...] seem to have no money for the improvement of schools, it is necessary that private individuals take an interest and contribute.
1777
We have a host of portable dictionaries on all sciences, on the arts, and even on frivolous subjects.
1768
...this heavy and insipid farce we call life...
1741-1784
Pope Benedict XIV (Prospero Lambertini, 1675–1758)
1746
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
For love, what is earthly is heavenly; the happiness it finds in itself is the supreme bliss. Love elevates the finite to the infinite.
1842-1845
The cause of all our errors [...] is the perpetual and imperceptible variability of our ideas.
1817
The Soul has different Tastes as well as the Palate; and [...] to pretend to make all Men love glory or riches [...] [is] as useless as [...] wanting to satisfy the taste of all men by giving them cheese or oysters.
1689
Bronze pendant in the form of a paired couple
8th century BCE
The great superiority of noble birth is that it allows one to bear poverty better.
1881
[...] old age upon which all infirmities converge, and that without any relief.
4th century BC
The works of God depict [...] the wisdom and power of the author [...], but they in no way trace his image.
1623
Of Mixtion where there is total penetration.
c. 253-270 AD
Limestone statue of a woman
early 6th century BCE
All those who possess in a pure state the love of their neighbor and the acceptance of the world's order, [...] even if they live and die as apparent atheists, are surely saved.
1942
It is [...] absolutely impossible for simple artisans, however skilled they may be, to perfect a new piece consisting of complicated movements, without the help of a person who, by the rules of theory, gives them the measurements.
1642-1645
The most ridiculous and boldest hopes have often been the cause of extraordinary successes.
1746
In these perilous encounters, courage is a good escort.
1636
Madonna and Child with Saints Jerome and Francis
1495