Denis Diderot Quotes

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

Denis Diderot

Only passions, great passions can elevate the soul to great things.

Denis Diderot

There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.

Denis Diderot

There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge... observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination.

Denis Diderot

The possibility of divorce renders both marriage partners stricter in their observance of the duties they owe to each other. Divorces help to improve morals and to increase the population.

Denis Diderot

You have to make it happen.

Denis Diderot

Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.

Denis Diderot

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.

Denis Diderot

No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings.

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

When science, art, literature, and philosophy are simply the manifestation of personality they are on a level where glorious and dazzling achievements are possible, which can make a man's name live for thousands of years.

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

The best doctor is the one you run to and can't find.

Denis Diderot

Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.

Denis Diderot

When superstition is allowed to perform the task of old age in dulling the human temperament, we can say goodbye to all excellence in poetry, in painting, and in music.

Denis Diderot