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
greatness men light
To say that man is a compound of strength and weakness, light and darkness, smallness and greatness, is not to indict him, it is to define him.
men missing ungrateful
Isn't it better to have men being ungrateful than to miss a chance to do good?
men giving shame
Give, but, if possible, spare the poor man the shame of begging.
freedom men order
No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others. Freedom is a gift from heaven, and every individual of the same species has the right to enjoy it as soon as he is in enjoyment of his reason.
religious philosophy men
Posterity for the philosopher is what the other world is for the religious man.
passion men suffering
One declaims endlessly against the passions; one imputes all of man's suffering to them. One forgets that they are also the source of all his pleasures.
hurt men self
Although a man may wear fine clothing, if he lives peacefully; and is good, self-possessed, has faith and is pure; and if he does not hurt any living being, he is a holy man.
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.
men gentleman he-man
He whom we call a gentleman is no longer the man of Nature.
happiness men quality
Gaiety is a quality of ordinary men. Genius always presupposes some disorder in the machine.
men theatre wicked
The pit of a theatre is the one place where the tears of virtuous and wicked men alike are mingled.
believe men thinking
One must be oneself very little of a philosopher not to feel that the finest privilege of our reason consists in not believing in anything by the impulsion of a blind and mechanical instinct, and that it is to dishonour reason to put it in bonds as the Chaldeans did. Man is born to think for himself.
christian men giving
If there were a reason for preferring the Christian religion to natural religion, it would be because the former offers us, on the nature of God and man, enlightenment that the latter lacks. Now, this is not at all the case; for Christianity, instead of clarifying, gives rise to an infinite multitude of obscurities and difficulties.
religious men blood
But if you will recall the history of our civil troubles, you will see half the nation bathe itself, out of piety, in the blood of the other half, and violate the fundamental feelings of humanity in order to sustain the cause of God: as though it were necessary to cease to be a man in order to prove oneself religious!