All truth is curved, time itself is a circle.
1883-1885
A miracle is an effect contrary to the constant laws of nature; consequently, God himself, without injuring his wisdom, cannot perform miracles.
1766
It seems [...] more in conformity with human nature to base the expectation of another life on the sentiments of a well-ordered soul, than to base one's conduct on the hope of another life.
1766
One must neither be too confident in prosperity, nor despair in misfortune. [...] fortune [...] moves everything with the sway of her wheel.
c. 62 AD
Bronze hydria (water jar)
early 4th century BCE
An outburst, escaped in certain moments, can put the hero on the same level as the common man; it can even put the latter above the former.
1636
[A man] was always ready, out of spite, to undo the good he had just accomplished.
100-120 AD
There is no room for either doubt or error in simple ideas; and this is a very important thing to note.
1805
Everyone in Vienna felt that the war against Hungary was directed against the principle of constitutional Government.
1851-1852
Element
7000 BCE - 330 CE
I heard the blessings that were given to the authors of an establishment so advantageous and so useful to the public.
1662
To suffer is the first thing he must learn, and the one he will most need to know.
1762
By uniting with different political powers, religion can therefore only contract a burdensome alliance. It does not need their help to live, and by serving them it can die.
1835-1840
You must absolutely and completely be in your soul [...] free or a slave, enlightened or ignorant.
c. 108 AD
Odalisque in Grisaille
ca. 1824–34
[Evil] consists in privation, that is, in what the efficient cause does not do. This is why the Scholastics used to call the cause of evil deficient.
c. 253-270 AD
If one turns intelligence towards the good, it is impossible that little by little the whole soul is not drawn to it in spite of itself.
1947
I preferred to expose good people to deploring my fate, rather than plunging them into despair.
September 57 BC
The will in itself has no goal, because it has no cause.
1819
The Bacino, Venice, with the Dogana and a Distant View of the Isola di San Giorgio
ca. 1709
Humility is sufficient to lead to God.
1263-1264
It is these cold and languid minds that are most capable of discovering the most solid and hidden truths; they can listen, in a greater silence of their passions, to the truth that teaches them.
1674-1675
Facts are the materials of science, not science itself; [...] it begins with the discovery of laws.
1882
The way in which a phenomenon develops expresses its nature; for two developments to correspond, there must also be a correspondence in the natures they manifest.
1895
María Teresa, Infanta of Spain
mid-17th century
I do not believe that any man of sound judgment can persuade himself that the sacred writers deliberately wrote in an obscure and unintelligible style, expressly to appear in contradiction with themselves.
1670
Victories won without the master's presence are not complete.
1580
If one gets angry with excessive ease, it is a bad disposition.
4th century BC
Prudence obliges one to show contentment, even if one is not; and to thank not only those who give something back, but also those who do not take everything.
1643-1649
Spatula
3900 BCE - 100 CE
One often obtains by violence and audacity what one would never obtain by ordinary means.
1513-1519
One must not confuse immoral acts and offenses. The latter fall under the Code; the former, under conscience or opinion.
1926
An active and energetic character, who is denied liberty, seeks power: deprived of self-disposal, they assert their personality by trying to govern others.
1869
[The concept] presupposes a perfect knowledge of all the best of antiquity [...] and yet [it is] the fruit of his vigils, his meditations, and his own research.
1627
Two fragments of a limestone sarcophagus lid with snakes
first half of the 5th century BCE
Manners spoil more easily than they are corrected.
1746
There are always some, better born than others, who feel the weight of the yoke and cannot restrain themselves from shaking it off; who never become accustomed to subjection.
c. 1552-1553
What is this glory that swells your hearts [...]? An echo, a shadow, a dream, the shadow of a dream.
1742
[...] the greatest probability never amounts to certainty, without which there can be no true Knowledge.
1689
Fragment of a limestone relief with two standing figures
4th–3rd century BCE
This Great Charter, which is regarded as the sacred origin of English liberties, itself shows very well how little liberty was known.
1733
Those who know nature do not try to express it in words; and those who try, thereby show that they do not know.
4th century BC
We are inclined to regard value as an absolute quality, inherent in things independently of the judgments we make, and this confused notion is a source of bad reasoning.
1776
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
Terracotta statuette of an actor
late 5th–early 4th century BCE
If audacious and powerful crime so often chains justice and virtue, it is only with the help of ignorance.
1758
No one should, for the love of life, resolve to live in servitude.
c. 387 BC
I will not erase your praise [...] because I love to praise; but I shall take great care not to be of your opinion.
1741-1784
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
Limestone statuette of a beardless male votary in Greek dress
late 6th century BCE