Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderotʁo]; 5 October 1713 – 31 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent figure during the Enlightenment and is best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the Encyclopédie along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert...
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth5 October 1713
power long denial
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.
government law people
The good of the people must be the great purpose of government. By the laws of nature and of reason, the governors are invested with power to that end. And the greatest good of the people is liberty. It is to the state what health is to the individual.
creativity mean reflection
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.
father want heavenly
There is no good father who would want to resemble our Heavenly Father.
duty
There is only one duty; that is to be happy.
forever trying facts
Those who fear the facts will forever try to discredit the fact-finders.
doe knows
Does anyone really know where they're going to?
order perfection fleeting
What is this world? A complex whole, subject to endless revolutions. All these revolutions show a continual tendency to destruction; a swift succession of beings who follow one another, press forward, and vanish; a fleeting symmetry; the order of a moment. I reproached you just now with estimating the perfection of things by your own capacity; and I might accuse you here of measuring its duration by the length of your own days.
science technology study
All abstract sciences are nothing but the study of relations between signs.
mean power order
Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order! Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control.
running eye men
The infant runs toward it with its eyes closed, the adult is stationary, the old man approaches it with his back turned.
love passion order
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!
human-nature conventions should
It is not human nature we should accuse but the despicable conventions that pervert it.
literature language music-is
Good music is very close to primitive language.