We have contented ourselves with [...] dismissing [the skeptics] and overwhelming them with an affected contempt, which both hides and reveals the inability to defeat them; for it is easier to disdain than to answer.
1817
One gladly mocks a foolishness from which one believes oneself exempt [...], one fears laughing at oneself under another's name.
1758
Between the undecided virtualities that constitute man at the moment of birth and the defined character he must become [...], the distance is considerable. It is this distance that education must have the child travel.
1922
A bad example is the most pernicious doctrine [...] for the indiscreet populace, who thinks that whatever evil is done and suffered is permissible.
c. 1552-1553
Marble head of a child
2nd century BCE
We must recognize that these two powers, the political and the paternal, are truly distinct and separate, are built upon different foundations, and have different ends.
1690
The great naturally know all things; they are always right, even when they decide on questions of which they have no knowledge.
1674-1675
Nature is far from having imposed anything hard or difficult on us; [...] one can possess all that is necessary for our needs by being content with what the earth offers on its surface.
63-64 AD
Economic categories are only the theoretical expressions, the abstractions of the social relations of production.
1847
Element
7000 BCE - 330 CE
But, whether through nonchalance or extreme poverty, this useful regulation was only very imperfectly executed.
1662
Thus, reader, I am myself the matter of my book: there's no reason for you to spend your leisure on such a frivolous and vain subject.
1580
[Know that] what is not cannot be born, that what exists does not perish, that the coming together of certain substances is what is called generation, and that their dissolution constitutes death.
1st Century A.D.
The relationship of the mental to the cerebral is not a constant one, any more than it is a simple one.
1896
Madame Bergeret de Frouville as Diana
1756
Tell yourself as soon as you are up in the morning: 'What do I lack to rise above all passions, above all troubles?'
c. 108 AD
Who can flatter themselves that they will read correctly?
1947
The word or the invisible and intellectual thought is the image of God.
1764
The source of inspiration remains forever hidden from us [...]. Logic loses its rights, and if a necessity drives genius to produce, the law of that necessity remains within itself.
1896
The Departure of the Gondola
mid-1760s
[...] the ignorant [...] imagine that the Beings they do not know have marvelous power.
17th century
Difficulty in expressing oneself does not prove a lack of intelligence; it only shows that the mind does not lend the necessary assistance to clothe the thought [...].
1764
The natural sentiments, excited by the general appearances of things, are not easily destroyed by refined reflections on their common and imperceptible origin.
1751
As often happens, one clearly separates the religious idea, religious art, and religious ceremonies from the detested idea of the clergy.
1926
Heroic Landscape with Rainbow
1824
Life is not an argument; among the conditions of life might be error.
1882
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
No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth.
c. 375 BC
It is [...] proportional that he who has worked much should receive much in wages; and that he who has worked little should receive little.
4th century BC
Marble head of Herakles
1st century CE
Why is praise embarrassing? Because it is against the justice one owes oneself to refuse it [...], and against the modesty that is required to accept it [...].
1759-1774
All good maxims are in the world, [...] one only has to apply them; but that is very difficult.
1746
How could common sense admit a god who claims that one should make oneself unhappy, and who takes pleasure in contemplating the torments his creatures inflict upon themselves?
1766
There is more advantage [...] in raising suspicion with veiled words than in putting forward something that could be contested.
86-82 BC
Bronze shield boss
8th–7th century BCE
Why great revolutions will become rare.
1835-1840
Civil history [...] by its importance and authority, holds the first rank among human writings.
1623
The entire history of social progress consists in the series of transitions that lead a custom or institution to pass from the rank of a primary necessity [...] to that of a universally condemned injustice.
1861
One can say 'some animal is not a man', but not vice versa.
c. 1270
Still Life with Flowers and Fruit
1866
Despite the general opinion, money is not the sinew of war.
1855
Before doing anything, a true Sage examines the goal and chooses the means. [...] they expose such a precious object for such a minimal and uncertain result. In reality, they do even worse, for the life they expose is more precious.
4th century BC
Everything that the world contains or can contain is in this necessary dependence on the subject and exists only for the subject.
1819
The intelligible world [...] is the universal life and the universal Intelligence; it is the living and intelligent unity: for the part there reproduces the whole, and a perfect harmony reigns in the entirety.
c. 253-270 AD
The Life and Miracles of Saint Godelieve
1475
These words, slave, and, right, are contradictory; they are mutually exclusive.
1762
What I have written about it is so true & so clear, that I am sure there will be no reasonable man who does not admit it.
1643-1649
The success of the best-organized geniuses depends entirely on the progress of language in the age in which they live.
1746
I hold that one created substance does not act upon another in metaphysical rigor, that is, with a real influence.
1686
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints James Minor and Lucy
1362