Denis Diderot Quotes - Page 2

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• 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

  Design, Religion, Use

  Denis Diderot (1966). “Selected Writings”, New York : Macmillan

  70 Copy quote

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

  Denis Diderot

  Inspirational, Vices, Virtue

  "Thesaurus of Epigrams: A New Classified Collection of Witty Remarks, Bon Mots and Toasts". Book by Edmund Fuller, 1942.

  13 Copy quote

• There is no true sovereign except the nation; there can be no true legislator except the people.

  Denis Diderot

  War, People, Sovereign

  Denis Diderot, John Hope Mason, Robert Wokler (1992). “Diderot: Political Writings”, p.81, Cambridge University Press

  12 Copy quote

• Scepticism is the first step toward truth.

  Denis Diderot

  Philosophy, Science, Steps

  "The Anchor Book of French Quotations with English Translations". Book by Norbert Gutermam, 1963.

  8 Copy quote

• Distance is a great promoter of admiration.

  Denis Diderot

  Distance, Admiration, Promoters

  "Thesaurus of Epigrams: A New Classified Collection of Witty Remarks, Bon Mots and Toasts". Book by Edmund Fuller, 1942.

  17 Copy quote

• We swallow with one gulp the lie that flatters us, and drink drop by drop the truth which is bitter to us.

  Denis Diderot

  Lying, Bitter, Flattery

  8 Copy quote

• There is only one duty; that is to be happy.

  Denis Diderot

  Duty

  10 Copy quote

• 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

  Power, Long, Denial

  "L'Encyclopédie". Book by Denis Diderot, 1751-1766.

  11 Copy quote

• There is less harm to be suffered in being mad among madmen than in being sane all by oneself.

  Denis Diderot

  Mad, Psychological, Harm

  13 Copy quote

• Wandering in a vast forest at night, I have only a faint light to guide me. A stranger appears and says to me: 'My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.' This stranger is a theologian.

  Denis Diderot

  Blow, Night, Light

  "Addition aux Pensées philosophiques". Book by Denis Diderot, 1770.

  27 Copy quote

• The best mannered people make the most absurd lovers.

  Denis Diderot

  People, Lovers, Sexuality

  17 Copy quote

• A nation which thinks that it is belief in God and not good law which makes people honest does not seem to me very advanced.

  Denis Diderot

  Thinking, Law, People

  34 Copy quote

• My ideas are my whores.

  Denis Diderot

  Ideas

  "Rameau's Nephew". Book by Denis Diderot, 1805.

  30 Copy quote

• Does anyone really know where they're going to?

  Denis Diderot

  Doe, Knows

  Denis Diderot, David Coward (1999). “Jacques the Fatalist and His Master”, p.3, Oxford University Press, USA

  9 Copy quote

• No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others. Freedom is a gift from heaven, and every individual of the same species has the right to enjoy it as soon as he is in enjoyment of his reason.

  Denis Diderot

  Freedom, Men, Order

  Denis Diderot (1966). “Selected Writings”, New York : Macmillan

  18 Copy quote

• The bad gives rise to the good, the good inspires the better, the better produces the excellent, the excellent is followed by the bizarre

  Denis Diderot

  Giving, Inspire, Excellent

  12 Copy quote

• There is only one virtue, justice; only one duty, to be happy; only one corollary, not to overvalue life and not to fear death.

  Denis Diderot

  Justice, Atheism, Virtue

  9 Copy quote

• You risk just as much in being credulous as in being suspicious.

  Denis Diderot

  Risk, Suspicious

  14 Copy quote

• My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.

  Denis Diderot

  Blow, Order, Way

  "Addition aux Pensées philosophiques". Book by Denis Diderot, 1770.

  8 Copy quote

• 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.

  Denis Diderot

  Greatness, Men, Light

  "The Anchor Book of French Quotations with English Translations". Book by Norbert Gutermam, 1963.

  6 Copy quote

• 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

  Creativity, Mean, Reflection

  John Hope Mason, Denis Diderot (1982). “The irresistible Diderot”

  27 Copy quote

• Give, but, if possible, spare the poor man the shame of begging.

  Denis Diderot

  Men, Giving, Shame

  34 Copy quote

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

  Denis Diderot

  Poetry, Poetry Is, Barbaric

  Denis Diderot (1966). “Selected Writings”, New York : Macmillan

  19 Copy quote

• The philosopher forms his principles on an infinity of particular observations. He does not confuse truth with plausibility, he takes for truth what is true, for false what is false, for doubtful what is doubtful, and probable what is probable. The philosophical spirit is thus a spirit of observation and accuracy.

  Denis Diderot

  Philosophical, Objectivity, Infinity

  "L'Encyclopédie", Article on Philosophy, Volume 25, 1766.

  8 Copy quote

• To describe women, the pen should be dipped in the humid colors of the rainbow, and the paper dried with the dust gathered from the wings of a butterfly.

  Denis Diderot

  Women, Butterfly, Dust

  31 Copy quote

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