Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.
DENIS DIDEROTWhether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.
DENIS DIDEROTFirst move me, astonish me, break my heart, let me tremble, weep, stare, be enraged-only then regale my eyes.
DENIS DIDEROTBad company is as instructive as licentiousness. One makes up for the loss of one’s innocence with the loss of one’s prejudices.
DENIS DIDEROTWhen one compares the talents one has with those of a Leibniz , one is tempted to throw away one’s books and go die quietly in the dark of some forgotten corner.
DENIS DIDEROTJacques said that his master said that everything good or evil we encounter here below was written on high.
DENIS DIDEROTWe 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.
DENIS DIDEROTEvil always turns up in this world through some genius or other.
DENIS DIDEROTPeople 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.
DENIS DIDEROTOnly God and some few rare geniuses can keep forging ahead into novelty.
DENIS DIDEROTScepticism is the first step towards truth.
DENIS DIDEROTIf you disturb the colors of the rainbow, the rainbow is no longer beautiful.
DENIS DIDEROTMankind have banned the Divinity from their presence; they have relegated him to a sanctuary; the walls of the temple restrict his view; he does not exist outside of it.
DENIS DIDEROTOnly passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.
DENIS DIDEROTDoes 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 DIDEROTGood music is very close to primitive language.
DENIS DIDEROTOnly a very bad theologian would confuse the certainty that follows revelation with the truths that are revealed. They are entirely different things.
DENIS DIDEROT