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
inspirational literature doe
There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.
philosophy passion doe
Passions destroy more prejudices than philosophy does.
sublime useless doe
Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.
doe knows
Does anyone really know where they're going to?
vanity doe action
Does not vanity itself cease to be blamable, is it not even ennobled, when it is directed to laudable objects, when it confines itself to prompting us to great and generous actions?
men doe needs
What a hell of an economic system! Some are replete with everything while others, whose stomachs are no less demanding, whose hunger is just as recurrent, have nothing to bite on. The worst of it is the constrained posture need puts you in. The needy man does not walk like the rest; he skips, slithers, twists, crawls.
philosophical objectivity doe
The philosopher forms his principles on an infinity of particular observations...He does not confuse truth with plausibility...he takes for truth what is true, for false what is false, for doubtful what is doubtful, and probable what is probable...The philosophical spirit is thus a spirit of observation and accuracy.
doe painter
You can be sure that a painter reveals himself in his work as much as and more than a writer does in his.
people lovers sexuality
The best mannered people make the most absurd lovers.
duty speak
To do his duty somehow, always to speak well of the Prior, and let the world go its own way.
force quotes sentences sharp truth
Sentences are like sharp nails, which force truth upon our memories.
beautiful stupid crazy
The wisest among us is very lucky never to have met the woman, be she beautiful or ugly, intelligent or stupid, who could drive him crazy enough to be fit to be put into an asylum.
running law long
The decisions of law courts should never be printed: in the long run, they form a counter authority to the law.
witty character giving
Il ne faut point donner d'esprit a' ses personnages; mais savoir les placer dans des circonstances qui leur en donnent. You should not give wit to your characters, but know instead how to put them in situations which will make them witty.