It is he [man] who makes his gods [...] or, at least, it is he who makes them last; but, at the same time, it is through them that he lasts.
1912
The food that would satisfy a dwarf [...] would only whet the appetite of a giant.
1636
Men [...] are inclined to esteem themselves rather above than below their worth, and that is why it is so easy to hurt us by carrying self-esteem too far.
1751
[Parties] only ever think of the pleasure that the words of their great orator bring them, and never of the dangerous excitement it will give their adversaries.
1893
Saint Francis of Assisi
ca. 1480–81
Sometimes the interests of my house, [...] sometimes conversations and civilities, which I cannot avoid, so overwhelm my weak spirit [...] that it renders itself, for a long time after, useless for anything else.
1643-1649
One should never give full consent except to propositions that appear so evidently true that one cannot refuse it to them without feeling an inner pain and secret reproaches from reason.
1674-1675
[...] while some seek glory, and others riches, there is a third kind of man, [...] who, regarding all else as nothing, apply themselves principally to contemplation. These are the ones who call themselves philosophers.
45 BC
Could it be that we believe men are less sensitive to the depiction of our sorrows than to the image of our charms? And do we expect it is easier to seduce them than to touch them?
1760
Limestone male figure in Egyptian dress
mid-6th century BCE
The king was so enraged that he drove the bishops and all other ecclesiastics from their homes, and confiscated their property.
1764
They announce, by their attire, that they know the things of heaven and earth [...]. They wear the costume, without knowing the thing itself.
4th century BC
What is beautiful and great but that which nature has made? What is deformed and weak but that which it has produced in its harshness?
1746
Therefore, do not seek to understand in order to arrive at faith, but begin by believing in order to arrive at understanding.
1263-1264
Chalcedony amulet, thunderbolt
664–334 BCE
Honesty, humanity, good faith, are purely private virtues. Kings should have no rule but their own whim.
c. 62 AD
There are some who show themselves to be truly virtuous the moment the curtain rises and they are about to play a great role on the world's stage.
1772
If men were ordinarily to rise from the grave, as wheat grows from seed, we would certainly say that this too was a natural thing.
1715-1716
With the help of this little dictionary, the great and the small, the enlightened as well as the simplest people, even women, will be able to speak pertinently.
1768
Matthew Baillie (1761–1823), F.R.S., after Hoppner
1817
[The ambitious] use seemingly legitimate means [...]. These means, which have the appearance of virtue, easily deceive all eyes.
1513-1519
The religious man places in God what he has recognized as true reality; from this disposition arises the dogma of the word of God; this dogma [...] means: the human word is divine.
1841
If [...] moral feelings are not innate, but acquired, they are no less for that reason natural. It is natural to man to speak, to reason [...] and yet these are acquired faculties.
1861
If education were everything, [such an education] would have served better to compress than to develop an intelligence.
1926
The Serenade
ca. 1678–80
This dogma of a fixed quantity of circulating currency was a monstrous error, contradicted by the facts of every day.
1865
The truly perfect definition of an idea would be the complete description of all its elements [...]. Not only would this be endless, but it is strictly impossible.
1805
Light is entirely incorporeal, although it is the act of a body.
c. 253-270 AD
In all that requires practice, do not claim to have what practice alone gives; leave the advantage to those who have practiced, and be content with your tranquility.
c. 108 AD
Appliqué in the form of a head
5th–4th century BCE
For the poet and the wise man, all things are familiar and sanctified, all events useful, all days sacred, all men divine.
1882
It is not the same for papers, which have only a fictitious value, as for gold and silver, which have a real value.
1776
Men's minds are generally too dull to penetrate to the heart of things at first glance, but they are sharpened by deliberating, listening, and debating.
1677
I am afflicted [...] by the misfortune that has befallen me; but I do not repent of what I have said.
100-120 AD
Limestone statuette of a boy holding a duck
late 4th century–3rd century BCE
Compassion for the afflicted is an impossibility. When it truly occurs, it is a miracle more surprising than walking on water [...].
1962
If there is a philosophy on any object [...], there must also be for this philosophy a system of pure rational concepts, independent of any empirical condition, that is to say, a metaphysics.
1797-1798
Philosophical systems that stick to general concepts, without returning to the real, are almost nothing but word games.
1819
Any man who has managed to deeply understand human nature can always be the architect of his own fortune, and is born to command.
1609
Saint Thomas Aquinas Aided by Saints Peter and Paul
1460
An energetic depiction must be compared with the language that a dying [person] spoke.
c. 1552-1553
Submitting to the laws of a country [...] does not make a man a member of the society established there: it is but a local protection and a local homage [...].
1690
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.
I feel well, which is the sweetest thought, that I have lived my whole life in piety and justice.
4th century BC
Portrait of a Man, possibly Matteo di Sebastiano di Bernardino Gozzadini
1494(?)
For him, it was the first and the last.
1750
The unity and simplicity of this concept would easily make one forget what a long series of obstacles had to be overcome to achieve it.
1663
Life, in itself, is neither good nor evil; it becomes good or evil according to what you make of it.
1580
The problem of freedom is therefore born of a misunderstanding: it has been for the moderns what the sophisms of the school of Elea were for the ancients.
1889
The Opium Smokers
1872