Quotes By Denis Diderot

The God of the Christians is a father who makes much of his apples, and very little of his children.

The general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action.

Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of those who obey.

Evil always turns up in this world through some genius or other.

Only passions, great passions can elevate the soul to great things.

Good music is very close to primitive language.

People praise virtue, but they hate it, they run away from it. It freezes you to death, and in this world you've got to keep your feet warm.

His hands would plait the priest's guts, if he had no rope, to strangle kings.

There is no good father who would want to resemble our Heavenly Father.

Every man has his dignity. I'm willing to forget mine, but at my own discretion and not when someone else tells me to.

Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.

It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire.

There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge... observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination.

There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.

In order to shake a hypothesis, it is sometimes not necessary to do anything more than push it as far as it will go.

There is no kind of harassment that a man may not inflict on a woman with impunity in civilized societies.

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.

There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.

Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory.

When science, art, literature, and philosophy are simply the manifestation of personality they are on a level where glorious and dazzling achievements are possible, which can make a man's name live for thousands of years.

To attempt the destruction of our passions is the height of folly. What a noble aim is that of the zealot who tortures himself like a madman in order to desire nothing, love nothing, feel nothing, and who, if he succeeded, would end up a complete monster!

Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined; and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common.

Although a man may wear fine clothing, if he lives peacefully; and is good, self-possessed, has faith and is pure; and if he does not hurt any living being, he is a holy man.

All abstract sciences are nothing but the study of relations between signs.

The decisions of law courts should never be printed: in the long run, they form a counter authority to the law.

The best mannered people make the most absurd lovers.

We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates.

Only a very bad theologian would confuse the certainty that follows revelation with the truths that are revealed. They are entirely different things.

Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.

One declaims endlessly against the passions; one imputes all of man's suffering to them. One forgets that they are also the source of all his pleasures.