Quotes By Denis Diderot

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.

The possibility of divorce renders both marriage partners stricter in their observance of the duties they owe to each other. Divorces help to improve morals and to increase the population.

Genius is present in every age, but the men carrying it within them remain benumbed unless extraordinary events occur to heat up and melt the mass so that it flows forth.

Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.

Bad company is as instructive as licentiousness. One makes up for the loss of one's innocence with the loss of one's prejudices.

The pit of a theatre is the one place where the tears of virtuous and wicked men alike are mingled.

We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.

Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.

It is not human nature we should accuse but the despicable conventions that pervert it.

If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him.

Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government; they are not African or Asian or European: they are good or bad.

Gratitude is a burden, and every burden is made to be shaken off.

You have to make it happen.

Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order! Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control.

The infant runs toward it with its eyes closed, the adult is stationary, the old man approaches it with his back turned.

When superstition is allowed to perform the task of old age in dulling the human temperament, we can say goodbye to all excellence in poetry, in painting, and in music.

We are all instruments endowed with feeling and memory. Our senses are so many strings that are struck by surrounding objects and that also frequently strike themselves.

The best doctor is the one you run to and can't find.

There are things I can't force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.

From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.

Gaiety is a quality of ordinary men. Genius always presupposes some disorder in the machine.

If there is one realm in which it is essential to be sublime, it is in wickedness. You spit on a petty thief, but you can't deny a kind of respect for the great criminal.

It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all.

Disturbances in society are never more fearful than when those who are stirring up the trouble can use the pretext of religion to mask their true designs.

No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings.

The first step towards philosophy is incredulity.