Denis Diderot Quotes

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Denis Diderot

Profession : Editor

Birth : October 5, 1713

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

Denis Diderot

Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.

Denis Diderot

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

Denis Diderot

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

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

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

Denis Diderot

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

Denis Diderot

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

Denis Diderot

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

Denis Diderot

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Denis Diderot

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

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

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

Denis Diderot

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

Denis Diderot