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
race forever atheism
Which is the greater merit, to enlighten the human race, which remains forever, or to save one's fatherland, which is perishable?
ignorance government people
It seems to me that if one had kept silence up to now regarding religion, people would still be submerged in the most grotesque and dangerous superstition ... regarding government, we would still be groaning under the bonds of feudal government ... regarding morals, we would still be having to learn what is virtue and what is vice. To forbid all these discussions, the only ones worthy of occupying a good mind, is to perpetuate the reign of ignorance and barbarism.
philosophy fanaticism
Philosophy is as far separated from impiety as religion is from fanaticism.
integrity virtue evidence
Integrity is the evidence of all civil virtues.
men gentleman he-man
He whom we call a gentleman is no longer the man of Nature.
race hands soul
Those authors into whose hands nature has placed a magic wand, with which they no sooner touch us than we forget the unhappiness in life, than the darkness leaves our soul, and we are reconciled to existence, should be placed among the benefactors of the human race.
order literature sometimes
In order to shake a hypothesis, it is sometimes not necessary to do anything more than push it as far as it will go.
justice literature firsts
Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.
fashion mistake voice
They mistake the first manifestations of a developing sexual nature for the voice of God calling them to Himself; and it is precisely when nature is inciting them that they embrace a fashion of life contrary to nature's wish.
heart blood atheism
Gentleness and peacefulness regulate our proceedings; theirs are dictated by fury. We employ reason, they accumulate faggots. They preach nothing but love, and breathe nothing but blood. Their words are humane, but their hearts are cruel.
may demand should
One may demand of me that I should seek truth, but not that I should find it
country europe government
Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government; they are not African or Asian or European: they are good or bad.
justice phrases enthusiasm
If ever anybody dedicated his whole life to the "enthusiasm for truth and justice" using this phrase in the good sense it was Diderot.
happiness men quality
Gaiety is a quality of ordinary men. Genius always presupposes some disorder in the machine.