Quotes by

Denis Diderot

All abstract sciences are nothing but the study of relations between signs. – Denis Diderot

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. – Denis Diderot

Every man has his dignity. Im willing to forget mine, but at my own discretion and not when someone else tells me to. – Denis Diderot

Distance is a great promoter of admiration! – Denis Diderot

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

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 world is the house of the strong. I shall not know until the end what I have lost or won in this place, in this vast gambling den where I have spent more than sixty years, dicebox in hand, shaking the dice. – Denis Diderot

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

The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them on occasion. – 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 there is one realm in which it is essential to be sublime, it is in wickedness. You spit on a petty thief, but you cant deny a kind of respect for the great criminal. – Denis Diderot

People praise virtue, but they hate it, they run away from it. It freezes you to death, and in this world youve got to keep your feet warm. – Denis Diderot

There are things I cant force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint. – Denis Diderot

The best doctor is the one you run to and cant find. – 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 mans name live for thousands of years. – Denis Diderot

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

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