Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.
DENIS DIDEROTJustice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.
More Denis Diderot Quotes
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Give, but, if possible, spare the poor man the shame of begging.
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Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.
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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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There is no true sovereign except the nation; there can be no true legislator except the people.
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Genius is present in every age, but the men carrying it within them remain benumbed unless extraordinary events occur to heat up and melt the mass so that it flows forth.
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You risk just as much in being credulous as in being suspicious.
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There is no kind of harassment that a man may not inflict on a woman with impunity in civilized societies.
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What a fine comedy this world would be if one did not play a part in it.
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Gaiety is a quality of ordinary men. Genius always presupposes some disorder in the machine.
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Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.
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Oh! how near are genius and madness! Men imprison them and chain them, or raise statues to them.
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In any country where talent and virtue produce no advancement, money will be the national god. Its inhabitants will either have to possess money or make others believe that they do. Wealth will be the highest virtue, poverty the greatest vice.
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Two qualities essential for the artist: moralityand perspective.
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No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings.
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The pit of a theatre is the one place where the tears of virtuous and wicked men alike are mingled.
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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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You have to make it happen.
DENIS DIDEROT -
When we know to read our own hearts, we acquire wisdom of the heartsof others.
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Scepticism is the first step towards truth.
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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.
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If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him.
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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.
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We are constantly railing against the passions; we ascribe to them all of man’s afflictions, and we forget that they are also the source of all his pleasures.
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For me, my thoughts are my prostitutes.
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Bad company is as instructive as licentiousness. One makes up for the loss of one’s innocence with the loss of one’s prejudices.
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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?
DENIS DIDEROT