The principles and arguments of the sciences penetrate the mind, seize it and master it to such an extent that it remains subjugated [...] and cannot resist conviction.
1609
I call matter the aggregate of images, and perception of matter these same images referred to the possible action of a certain determinate image, my body.
1896
Malice is a shade of fury and affectation is a beginning of frenzy.
1772
It is obviously a defect to mock that which is not worthy of mockery.
c. 1660
Gold pendant in the form of a lion's head
2nd half of the 5th century BCE
For Epicurus, there is no good for man outside of himself; the only good he possesses in relation to the world is the negative movement of being free from this world.
1841
What is the use of endlessly repeating that it is beautiful to die for one's country? An aphorism does not make a hero.
1758
The disciple of wisdom is as if confused, however blameless he may be, and feels his inadequacy, however advanced he may be.
4th century BC
[Heraclitus was the] founder of a sect that did not flourish much.
45 BC
Statuette of Herakles
3rd century BCE–2nd century CE
A great man fears infamy alone, and that suffering only frightens [...] men with the hearts of women.
1st Century A.D.
Happiness provides physical advantages in abundance.
329-323 BC
The wicked are at bottom the greatest dupes, for they have sacrificed the happiness of enjoying [...] the pleasure of being virtuous, to acquire trifles of no value.
1751
One finds a thousand times more pleasure in sacrificing one's desires than in satisfying them.
1760
Arrowhead
ca. 480–330 BCE
Instead of the apotheosis of Reason, we have made another of Instinct; and we call everything instinct which we cannot establish on a rational basis.
1869
I had always believed that one could not hope to settle the revolutionary movement gradually and peacefully [...] and that it would only be stopped suddenly by a great battle.
1893
The diseases of the mind are not cured otherwise [than with time].
c. 1552-1553
Cruelties should be committed all at once, so that their bitterness being less felt, they will excite less resentment; benefits, on the contrary, ought to be conferred gradually, that they may be savored the more.
1855
Head of a satyr
2nd century BCE
From the mere fact that I have in me the idea of a thing more perfect than I am, it follows that this thing truly exists.
1641
[...] a soul that seeks divine felicity in the world of the senses is like Narcissus plunging into the abyss to embrace a shadow.
c. 253-270 AD
His painting, successful in its details, is incoherent as a whole.
1926
We expressly forbid all persons [...] from interfering in such an establishment, or causing it any trouble or hindrance, under any pretext whatsoever.
1662
Limestone hand holding a pyxis and a branch of leaves
3rd–1st century BCE
Morality is formed, transformed, and maintained for reasons of an experimental order; these are the only reasons that the science of morality undertakes to determine.
1893
Learn to lose what can be taken from you; learn to leave everything when virtue commands it.
1762
Nothing lasts but the truth.
1746
Schism [...] is nothing other than a separation made in the communion of the Church for some rite that is not of absolute necessity in divine worship or ecclesiastical discipline.
1686
Terracotta plaque with Pelops and Hippodamia
27 BCE–68 CE
[...] to yield to the mere reverence of the holy image of virtue is the effect of a strong and unbending soul, holding in affection and honor a masculine and obstinate vigor.
1580
Philosophy is not a cosmo-theogony [...]. It is the science of silent spirits, of the principles and laws that direct nature and humanity.
1842-1845
Non-animal is said of fewer things than non-man, because non-animal is said of all beings except animals, [while] non-man is said of all beings and animals, except for man.
c. 1270
Did you not know long ago that at the very moment of my birth, nature had pronounced my death sentence?
4th century BC
A Female Allegorical Figure
ca. 1740–50
What did it serve him to have conquered an entire world, since he lost the privilege of great men, which is to know how to command oneself.
1636
The value of the form can only be the value of the labor that provides it. It is the wage due to the worker.
1776
[...] all our knowledge consists only in our judgments.
1803
A prudent mind will not reveal the nasty tricks of his childhood, the wicked and perfidious character traits that were evident; he understands indeed that these are witnesses who testify against his present character.
1819
Standing boy with a goose
3rd century BCE
[In a system where] force [...] is everything, it leaves no hope for justice. It doesn't even leave the hope of conceiving it in its truth, since thoughts only reflect the relations of force.
1934
Fear, in wanting to prove your attachment to me, to offend the one who reigns over the emperor's mind.
3rd or 4th century AD
If, indeed, you were truly persuaded that it is you who possess the true goods, and that they are mistaken, you would not worry about what they say of you.
c. 108 AD
To consider our morality from a distance [...], one must act like the traveler who wants to know the height of a city's towers: for that, he leaves the city.
1882
Still Life: A Banqueting Scene
ca. 1640–41
One would advise to stick to prescription [...]; and that is the side that [the institution] has taken.
1764
[By lying...] I bring it about, as much as it is in my power, that statements in general find no credence, [...] which is an injustice done to humanity in general.
1797
[Some] at least doubt whether souls are not material and naturally perishable.
1715-1716
Being always away from home, they do not notice the disorders that occur there; they think they are well, because they do not feel themselves.
1674-1675
Marble head of a young woman from a funerary statue
late 4th century BCE