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