Age of Enlightenment

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In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain... And the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan

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Original Citation

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil. London: Andrew Crooke, 1651, pt. 1, ch. 13.

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Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan, edited by Christopher Brooke. Penguin Classics, 2017, pt. 1, ch. 13.

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And with the guts of the last priest
Let's wring the neck of the last king.

Denis Diderot

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Diderot, Denis. "Les Eleutheromanes [The Eleutherans]." Correspondance littéraire, 1 Mar. 1772.

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I think, therefore I am.

René Descartes

Discourse on Method

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Original Citation

Descartes, René [published anonymously]. Discours de la Méthode: Pour bien conduire sa raison, et chercher la vérité dans les sciences [Discourse on Method: To Conduct Reason Well, and Seek Truth in the Sciences]. Leiden, 1637, pt. 4.

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Current Citation

Descartes, René. Discourse on the Method, translated by Ian Maclean. Oxford University Press, 2008, pt. 4.

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Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never is, but always to be blessed.

Alexander Pope

An Essay on Man

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Original Citation

Pope, Alexander. "An Essay on Man." London: J. Wilford, 1733, ep. 1, l. 95.

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Current Citation

Pope, Alexander. "An Essay on Man." The Major Works, edited by Pat Rogers. Oxford University Press, 2009, ep. 1, l. 95.

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Moreover, in a system of two bodies mutually acting upon each other, since the differences between their centres and the common centre of gravity of both are reciprocally as the bodies, the relative motions of those bodies, whether of approaching to or of receding from that centre, will be equal junong themselves. Therefore since the changes which happen to motions are equal and directed to contrary parts.

Isaac Newton

Principia

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Original Citation

Newton, Isaac. "Axiomata sive Leges Motus: [Axioms, or Laws of Motion]." Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica [The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy], vol. 1. London: Josephi Streater, 1687, law 3.

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Current Citation

Newton, Isaac. "Axioms, or the Laws of Motion." The Principia, translated by Andrew Motte. Prometheus, 1995, law 3.

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If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?

Voltaire

Candide

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Voltaire. Candide, ou l'Optimisme [Candide: or, All for the Best]. Geneva: Gabriel Cramer, 1759, ch. 6.

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Voltaire. Candide, edited by Nicholas Cronk. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, ch. 6.

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Where-ever Law ends, Tyranny begins.

John Locke

Two Treatises of Government

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Locke, John. "Second Treatise of Civil Government." Two Treatises of Government. London: Awnsham Churchill, 1690, ch. 18, sect. 202.

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Current Citation

Locke, John. Second Treatise of Civil Government, edited by C. B. Macpherson. Hackett Publishing Company, 1980, ch. 18, sect. 202.

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The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.

Blaise Pascal

Pensées

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Pascal, Blaise. Pensées [Thoughts]. Paris: Chez G. Desprez, 1670, no. 277.

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Current Citation

Pascal, Blaise. "Pensées." Pensées and Other Writings, edited by Anthony Levi, translated by Honor Levi. Oxford University Press, 2008, no. 277.

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Man naturally desires, not only to be loved, but to be lovely; or to be that thing which is the natural and proper object of love.

Adam Smith

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

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Original Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. London: Andrew Millar/Edinburgh: Alexander Kincaid and J. Bell, 1759, pt. 3, ch. 2.

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Current Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, edited by Ryan Patrick Hanley. Penguin Books, 2009, pt. 3, ch. 2.

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Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.

Immanuel Kant

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Kant, Immanuel. "Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht [Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose]." Berlinische Monatsschrift, Nov. 1784.

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No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan

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Original Citation

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil. London: Andrew Crooke, 1651, pt. 1, ch. 13.

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Current Citation

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan, edited by Christopher Brooke. Penguin Classics, 2017, pt. 1, ch. 13.

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Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Benjamin Franklin

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Franklin, Benjamin. "Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor." 11 Nov. 1755. Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, 1755-1756. Philadelphia, 1756, pp. 19-21.

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Franklin, Benjamin. "Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 11 Nov. 1755." Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-06-02-0107

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A state without some means of change is without the means of its own conservation.

Edmund Burke

Reflections on the Revolution in France

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Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France. London: James Dodsley, 1790.

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Burke, Edmund. "Reflections on the Revolution in France." The Portable Edmund Burke, edited by Isaac Kramnick. Penguin, 2009.

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To err is human, to forgive divine.

Alexander Pope

An Essay on Criticism

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Original Citation

Pope, Alexander, [published anonymously]. "An Essay on Criticism." London: W. Lewis, 1711, l. 526.

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Current Citation

Pope, Alexander. "An Essay on Criticism." The Major Works, edited by Pat Rogers. Oxford University Press, 2009, pt. 2, I. 526.

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Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

Alexander Pope

An Essay on Criticism

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Pope, Alexander, [published anonymously]. "An Essay on Criticism." London: W. Lewis, 1711, pt. 2, l. 626.

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Pope, Alexander. "An Essay on Criticism." The Major Works, edited by Pat Rogers. Oxford University Press, 2009, pt. 2, I. 626.

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Make the Revolution a parent of settlement, and not a nursery of future revolutions.

Edmund Burke

Reflections on the Revolution in France

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Original Citation

Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France. London: James Dodsley, 1790.

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Burke, Edmund. "Reflections on the Revolution in France." The Portable Edmund Burke, edited by Isaac Kramnick. Penguin, 2009.

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The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.

Edmund Burke

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Burke, Edmund. "Speech at a County Meeting of Buckinghamshire." 1784, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.

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God is, or He is not. But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separates us. A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up. What will you wager?... If you win, you win everything; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.

Blaise Pascal

Pensées

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Original Citation

Pascal, Blaise. Pensées [Thoughts]. Paris: Chez G. Desprez, 1670, no. 229.

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Pascal, Blaise. "Pensées." Pensées and Other Writings, edited by Anthony Levi, translated by Honor Levi. Oxford University Press, 2008, no. 229.

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I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?

Voltaire

Candide

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Original Citation

Voltaire. Candide, ou l'Optimisme [Candide: or, All for the Best]. Geneva: Gabriel Cramer, 1759, ch. 12.

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Current Citation

Voltaire. Candide, edited by Nicholas Cronk. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, ch. 12.

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For what a man had rather were true he more readily believes.

Francis Bacon

Novum Organum

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Original Citation

Bacon, Francis. Novum Organum. London: John Beale, 1620, bk. 1, no. 49.

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Bacon, Francis. The New Organon. Translated by Michael Silverthorne. Cambridge UP, 2000, bk. 1, no. 49.

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