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 DIDEROTI discuss with myself questions of politics, love, taste, or philosophy. I let my mind rove wantonly, give it free rein to followany idea, wise or mad that may present itself. My ideas are my harlots.
More Denis Diderot Quotes
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I feel, I think, I judge; therefore, a part of organized matter like me is capable of feeling, thinking, and judging.
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From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.
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There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.
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First of all move me, surprise me, rend my heart; make me tremble, weep, shudder; outrage me; delight my eyes afterwards if you can.
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Posterity for the philosopher is what the other world is for the religious man.
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Integrity is the evidence of all civil virtues.
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It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all.
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There is only one virtue, justice; only one duty, to be happy; only one corollary, not to overvalue life and not to fear death.
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People praise virtue, but they hate it, they run away from it. It freezes you to death, and in this world you’ve got to keep your feet warm.
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We swallow with one gulp the lie that flatters us, and drink drop by drop the truth which is bitter to us.
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In order to shake a hypothesis, it is sometimes not necessary to do anything more than push it as far as it will go.
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If you disturb the colors of the rainbow, the rainbow is no longer beautiful.
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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.
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All children are essentially criminal.
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If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him.
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At an early age I sucked up the milk of Homer, Virgil, Horace, Terence, Anacreon, Plato and Euripides, diluted with that of Moses and the prophets.
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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.
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Do you see this egg? With this you can topple every theological theory, every church or temple in the world.
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It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true: will is a product of desire.
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There are things I can’t force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.
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In general, children, like men, and men, like children, prefer entertainment to education.
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Does anyone really know where they’re going to?
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Are we not madder than those first inhabitants of the plain of Sennar? We know that the distance separating the earth from the sky is infinite, and yet we do not stop building our tower.
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No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings.
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Scepticism is the first step toward truth.
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Only passions, and great passions, can raise the soul to great things. Without them there is no sublimity, either in morals or in creativity. Art returns to infancy, and virtue becomes small-minded.
DENIS DIDEROT