24 Quotes by Giambattista Vico

The straight line cannot proceed through the torturous twists of life.

One truly understands only what one can create.

Men first feel necessity, then look for utility, next attend to comfort, still later amuse themselves with pleasure, thence grow dissolute in luxury, and finally go mad and waste their substance.

Understanding arises through making.

A city divided by religion is either already in ruins or close to it.

The Roman jurisconsults established worship of God as the first and foremost part of the natural law of the gentes. For where there is neither rule of law nor force of arms, and men are accordingly in a state of complete freedom, they can neither enter nor remain in society with others except through fear of a force superior to them all, and, therefore, through fear of a divinity common to all. This fear of divinity is called ‘religion’.