Denis Diderot quotes

Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, writer, and art critic, best known as a leading figure of the Enlightenment. His work as chief editor of the monumental Encyclopédie greatly influenced European intellectual history. He championed reason, freedom of thought, and the spread of knowledge. Here are 132 of his quotes:

The God of the Christians is a father who makes much of his apples, and very little of his children. (Denis Diderot)

What a fine comedy this world would be if one did not play a part in it.

Denis Diderot

From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.

Denis Diderot

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

Denis Diderot

Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.

Denis Diderot

There are things I can't force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.

Denis Diderot

Doctors are always working to preserve our health and cooks to destroy it, but the latter are the more often successful.

Denis Diderot

There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.

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 decisions of law courts should never be printed: in the long run, they form a counter authority to the law.

Denis Diderot

The best doctor is the one you run to and can't find. (Denis Diderot)

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

Denis Diderot

Bad company is as instructive as licentiousness. One makes up for the loss of one's innocence with the loss of one's prejudices.

Denis Diderot

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

Denis Diderot

We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.

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

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

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

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

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

Denis Diderot

It is not human nature we should accuse but the despicable conventions that pervert it. (Denis Diderot)

There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.

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

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

Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government; they are not African or Asian or European: they are good or bad.

Denis Diderot

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Denis Diderot

Denis Diderot - Image

Occupation: French Editor
Born: October 5, 1713
Died: July 31, 1784
Quotes count: 132
Wikipedia: Denis Diderot

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