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