Denis Diderot Quotes
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You have to make it happen.
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Égaré dans une forêt immense pendant la nuit, je n’ai qu’une petite lumière pour me conduire. Survient un inconnu qui me dit : Mon ami, souffle ta bougie pour mieux trouver ton chemin. Cet inconnu est un théologien. - No VIII
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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.
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This is a work that cannot be completed except by a society of men of letters and skilled workmen, each working separately on his own part, but all bound together solely by their zeal for the best interests of the human race and a feeling of mutual good will.
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How easy it is to tell tales!
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There is no good father who would want to resemble our Heavenly Father.
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To say that man is a compound of strength and weakness, light and darkness, smallness and greatness, is not to indict him, it is to define him.
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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.
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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.
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There is no kind of harassment that a man may not inflict on a woman with impunity in civilized societies.
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Aucun homme n'a recu de la nature le droit de commander aux autres. La liberté est un présent du ciel, et chaque individu de la meme espèce a le droit d'en jouir aussitòt qu'il jouit de la raison.
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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.
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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.
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The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.
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It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire.
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La reconnaissance est un fardeau, et tout fardeau est fait pour être secoué.
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Jacques said that his master said that everything good or evil we encounter here below was written on high.
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We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates.
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Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.
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All abstract sciences are nothing but the study of relations between signs.
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Impenetrable in their dissimulation, cruel in their vengeance, tenacious in their purposes, unscrupulous as to their methods, animated by profound and hidden hatred for the tyranny of man - it is as though there exists among them an ever-present conspiracy toward domination, a sort of alliance like that subsisting among the priests of every country.
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The decisions of law courts should never be printed: in the long run, they form a counter authority to the law.
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Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.
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Superstition is more injurious to God than atheism.