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Quotes by Denis Diderot

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.
– Denis Diderot
Distance is a great promoter of admiration!
– Denis Diderot
Every man has his dignity. I'm willing to forget mine, but at my own discretion and not when someone else tells me to.
– Denis Diderot
Evil always turns up in this world through some genius or other.
– Denis Diderot
From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.
– Denis Diderot
If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him.
– Denis Diderot
In order to shake a hypothesis, it is sometimes not necessary to do anything more than push it as far as it will go.
– Denis Diderot
It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire.
– Denis Diderot
Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.
– Denis Diderot
Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
– Denis Diderot
Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government; they are not African or Asian or European: they are good or bad.
– Denis Diderot
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.
– Denis Diderot
Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory.
– Denis Diderot
The arbitrary rule of a just and enlightened prince is always bad. His virtues are the most dangerous and the surest form of seduction: they lull a people imperceptibly into the habit of loving, respecting, and serving his successor, whoever that successor may be, no matter how wicked or stupid.
– Denis Diderot
The best doctor is the one you run to and can't find.
– Denis Diderot
The decisions of law courts should never be printed: in the long run, they form a counter authority to the law.
– Denis Diderot
The infant runs toward it with its eyes closed, the adult is stationary, the old man approaches it with his back turned.
– Denis Diderot
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.
– Denis Diderot
There are things I can't force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.
– Denis Diderot
There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.
– Denis Diderot
There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.
– Denis Diderot
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!
– Denis Diderot
Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order! Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control.
– Denis Diderot
We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.
– Denis Diderot
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.
– Denis Diderot
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.
– Denis Diderot
You have to make it happen.
– Denis Diderot
A thing is not proved just because no one has ever questioned it. What has never been gone into impartially has never been properly gone into. Hence scepticism is the first step toward truth. It must be applied generally, because it is the touchstone.
– Denis Diderot
Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.
– Denis Diderot
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.
– Denis Diderot
The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.
– Denis Diderot
The general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action.
– Denis Diderot
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.
– Denis Diderot
Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.
– Denis Diderot
Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.
– Denis Diderot
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.
– Denis Diderot
No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings.
– Denis Diderot
It is not human nature we should accuse but the despicable conventions that pervert it.
– Denis Diderot
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.
– Denis Diderot
Good music is very close to primitive language.
– Denis Diderot
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.
– Denis Diderot
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.
– Denis Diderot