The principal effect of all the passions in men is that they incite and dispose their soul to want the things for which they prepare their body.
1649
[The interest of princes] is firstly that the people be weak, miserable, and that they may never be able to resist them.
1762
Great men, like great epochs, are explosive materials in which a tremendous force is accumulated.
1888
Many live thus, and die without having known true freedom.
1889
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints James Minor and Lucy
1362
I tremble that the hope you feed me might dissipate into smoke.
1518
In the absence of this gift of nature, there is no rule capable of protecting him from the misuse he may make of it.
1781
Each time one sees in an idea an element one had not yet seen in it, it becomes a new idea.
1805
Softness had, in the course of a long peace, weakened the nation's courage, pleasures had corrupted it, [...] and adversity alone could reawaken the ancient virtue.
1746
Spearhead
3900 BCE - 100 CE
Man is a god to man: the I and the Thou, that is the primitive pivot of his existence and his consciousness.
1841
In the long run, he made a friend of her; he came to appreciate her character; he felt the strength of her mind.
circa 1748
There is no one who is not strong enough to do harm.
63-64 AD
One could use [amber] to preserve [...] the bodies of illustrious men. This material [...] is quite rare; but great men are even rarer.
1623
Marble statue of Aphrodite
1st or 2nd century CE
The saying, 'he who knows little thinks himself great,' applies to me. [...] I was right to come and be instructed, otherwise the truly wise would have ended up laughing at me.
4th century BC
The gentle nightingale [...] carves out a thousand chattering warbles from under the shade [...].
1546/1563
None of the great academic "critics" have mentioned it; it is too delicate for them.
1926
God must not fight for the cowardly: for the law wills that in war one saves one's life by valor and not by prayers.
c. 253-270 AD
Buckle
7000 BCE - 330 CE
Especially in winter, when the days are short, [...] one does not dare to venture to come and go through the streets, for lack of light.
1662
What unity could a white color and a high-pitched sound form? One cannot sense two things of this kind at the same time.
c. 350 BC
[The] words of the Lord can be applied to all Christians who strive for eternal joys through the tears and sufferings of this life.
1263-1264
Promises extorted, [...] wrested by force and without right, [...] are in no way binding.
1690
Bronze handle of a vessel with Silenos mask
450–400 BCE
They taught their children nothing [...] that they had to learn while sitting down.
1580
[The art of] persuading one is similar to [that of] persuading the many.
End of the 4th century BC
To resemble God, but God crucified.
1947
The centuries devoid of science and industry were golden ages for the church of Jesus Christ.
1766
Saint Agapitus of Praeneste in the Arena; (interior) The Beheading of Saint Agapitus of Praeneste
ca. 1500–1505
Science must avoid two pitfalls: clinging to the immediate given of representation [and] severing the ideal development [...] from the object of representation, which is the concrete.
1841
To punish without hatred when the crime exists, to forget all prejudice when it does not.
66 BC
A solid and sure judgment, and a spirit all of fire, are [...] qualities that attract the name of prodigy to the man in whom they are united.
1636
Death surprised him without his expecting it. A proof of goodness [...]: he seemed to trust his friends.
100-120 AD
Gabbro mace head
ca. 2500–1900 BCE
The most generous patriot and the most sordid miser, the most magnanimous hero and the most cowardly man, in all their actions, equally have in view their own interest and personal happiness.
1751
It is not through mockery, but through good advice, that one should seek to correct [an imperfection].
c. 1660
I do not want it to be some trifle, but the correctness of our judgments, that produces this effect on us.
c. 108 AD
Far from there being a universally valid education for all humankind, there is [...] no society where different pedagogical systems do not coexist and function in parallel.
1922
Appliqué in the form of a head
5th–4th century BCE
The difficulty was to know whether it was the soul or the body of the dead that ate. It was decided that it was both.
1764
There would not be so many false inventions and so many imaginary discoveries, if men did not let themselves be dazed by ardent desires to appear as inventors.
1674-1675
Every error, wherever it is found, must be pursued and rooted out as harmful to humanity, and there can be no privileged errors [...].
1819
This kind of poverty is the mother of depopulation.
1772
Bronze pendant in the form of a paired couple
8th century BCE
They want equality in freedom, and if they cannot obtain that, they still want equality in slavery.
1864-1866
One must distinguish between true and false ideas and not give too much to one's imagination under the pretext of a clear and distinct assertion.
1686
Unable to [...] sustain the competition without ruining themselves, [the merchants] gave up the grain trade one after another.
1776
Truth, in the great practical interests of life, is above all a matter of combining and reconciling extremes.
1859
Terracotta head from a statue
ca. 525–500 BCE