Men must be either pampered or crushed [...] when it comes to offending a man, it must be done in such a way that one need not fear his revenge.
1513
[This] teaches us the perpetual dependence we have on God's mercy, since, if He interrupts its course ever so slightly, dryness necessarily follows.
1656-1657
We enjoy only people; the rest is nothing.
1746
Social relations are closely tied to productive forces. In acquiring new productive forces, men change their mode of production [...] they change all their social relations.
1847
Bronze lion paw
7th century BCE
By natural reason alone, we can indeed make many conjectures to our advantage and have fine hopes, but by no means any assurance.
1643-1649
[...] in his work, the manner of expressing things does not prevail over the things it expresses.
1926
'Condensation is the proper work of the creative intelligence'.
1896
In everything that is not under your control, be full of confidence; but in everything that is, be on your guard.
c. 108 AD
The Bacino, Venice, with the Dogana and a Distant View of the Isola di San Giorgio
ca. 1709
We must respect antiquity, they say. [...] We fail to consider that Aristotle, Plato, and Epicurus were men like us [...] and that in our time, the world is older [...] and ought to be more enlightened.
1674-1675
By getting used to victory, he became generous, and often shared with the vanquished. This provided me with a moral observation, and I learned thereby what the true principle of generosity was.
1762
[Nomenclatures] are good as soon as they are able to help our mind in its research, and do not cause it to form false notions.
1805
Do all souls form a single soul?
c. 253-270 AD
Terracotta statuette of a woman
3rd century BCE
In civilized man, egoism enters into the very heart of higher representations: each of us has our own opinions, our beliefs, our own aspirations, and holds to them.
1893
A jurist in the king's pay, who could be appointed and dismissed at will, could certainly have nothing in common with a [...] prince of the blood.
1769
If there are no perfectly solid parts in matter, there is no matter in the universe; [...] it will follow that bodies are composed solely of pores [...].
1715-1716
All mental effort is indeed a tendency towards monoideism. But the unity towards which the mind then moves is not an abstract, dry, and empty unity. It is the unity of a 'guiding idea'.
1919
Buckle
3900 BCE - 100 CE
Some, too fond of their own wit, audaciously invent facts.
1623
In politics, what is most difficult to appreciate and to understand is what is happening before our very eyes.
1864-1866
The harmony of these two attributes [judgment and spirit] is essential for great men, to provide them with [...] resources that are both certain and prompt.
1636
The time is past when accidents could still happen to me; and what could still befall me that is not already my own?
1883-1885
Marble female figure
3200–2700 BCE
Do you dare complain of another's arrogance, when you can never find time for yourself?
c. 49 AD
Each one must bear the penalty for his own crime, and a man should not be made odious or suspect for the fault another has committed.
1686
It is only by exterminating that [a nation] will ensure its domination over previously free peoples.
1776
The cause of the idea that man possesses is not his own imagination, but some external cause, which determines him to know this or that.
c. 1660
Portrait of a Man
ca. 1680
Self-satisfaction after a good deed [...] is a degradation of higher energy. This is why the right hand must ignore...
1947
Ignorance is the mother of devotion, a proverbial maxim, but one confirmed by experience.
1757
[Speech is forbidden] for fear that their favorites who abuse their power might thereby be known and punished.
1574
Passionate critics always end up being wrong in the face of cold critics.
1762
Terracotta head of a youth
2nd century BCE (?)
We have one foot in the grave, and our appetites and pursuits are just being born.
1580
Are not men subject to deceiving themselves, and to deceiving others?
1766
What is intended in marriage is not the pleasure of the mind, but the procreation of children; marriage is a union of hearts, not of heads.
1819
Utility is the ultimate appeal on all ethical questions; but it must be utility in the largest sense, grounded on the permanent interests of man as a progressive being.
1859
Terracotta plank-shaped figurine
ca. 2000–1800 BCE
Passions are to the moral world what motion is to the physical: it creates, annihilates, preserves, animates everything; and without it, all is dead.
1758
Socrates was the first to bring true philosophy down from the heavens [...] to make everyone discourse on what can serve to regulate life, to form morals, and to distinguish what is good from what is evil.
45 BC
Regarding metaphysical minds of consummate penetration, one would have to be very inexperienced to believe that one could still add anything to their knowledge, or subtract anything from their opinion.
1763
It is not enough that an action be beautiful and just; the thought which determines it must also be firm and unwavering; one must act only after mature consideration.
100-120 AD
A Female Allegorical Figure
ca. 1740–50
Life develops towards a goal, death is a return to a destination. Genesis follows genesis without end, without our knowing their origin or seeing their term.
4th century BC
Non-being could not produce anything, since that which is capable of producing something must of necessity already partake of existence.
c. 350 B.C.E.
[Thought] is a dialogue that the soul holds with itself about the objects it examines.
c. 360 BC
The Lord's head represents the sublime height of his divinity, and his feet the humility of his incarnation; or again, the head is Jesus Christ himself, the feet are the poor who are his members.
1263-1264
Portrait of a Woman
1785