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Dead Smart People

When you're tired of listening to living idiots.

Français

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

Georges Seurat

View of the Seine

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

Auguste Renoir

Two Young Girls at the Piano

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

Titian

Venus and the Lute Player

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

Roman Artist

Bronze statuette of Athena

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

Greek Artist, Arcadian

Two gutti from a group of fragments from the Temple of Apollo at Phigaleia (Bassae)

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

Workshop of Niccolò di Buonaccorso

The Lamentation over the Dead Christ

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

Pierre Hubert Subleyras

Pope Benedict XIV (Prospero Lambertini, 1675–1758)

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

Villanovan

Bronze pendant in the form of a paired couple

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

Cypriot artist

Limestone statue of a woman

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

Italian (Umbrian) Painter

Madonna and Child with Saints Jerome and Francis

Madonna and Child with Saints Jerome and Francis

1495