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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.

Denis Diderot

Philosophy is as far separated from impiety as religion is from fanaticism.
DENIS DIDEROT

Philosophy Religion Separate
Superstition is more injurious to God than atheism.
DENIS DIDEROT

Atheist God Injurious
First move me, astonish me, break my heart, let me tremble, weep, stare, be enraged-only then regale my eyes.
DENIS DIDEROT

Astonishment Eyes Move Myself
I have only a small flickering light to guide me in the darkness of a thick forest. Up comes a theologian and blows it out.
DENIS DIDEROT

Anand Thakur
I like better for one to say some foolish thing upon important matters than to be silent. That becomes the subject of discussion and dispute, and the truth is discovered.
DENIS DIDEROT

Anand Thakur
It has been said that love robs those who have it of their wit, and gives it to those who have none.
DENIS DIDEROT

Love Rob
Time, matter, space – all, it may be, are no more than a point.
DENIS DIDEROT

Anand Thakur
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.
DENIS DIDEROT

Build Distance Infinite Mad Plain Separate Tower
Ignorance is less remote from the truth than prejudice.
DENIS DIDEROT

Ignorance Prejudice Remote Truth
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

Action Direction Generous Object
The infant runs toward it with its eyes closed, the adult is stationary, the old man approaches it with his back turned.
DENIS DIDEROT

Adult Eyes Infant Man Old
Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.
DENIS DIDEROT

Philosophy Road
One composition is meagre, though it has many figures; another is rich, though it has few.
DENIS DIDEROT

Composition Rich
A thing is not proved because no one has ever questioned it. Skepticism is the first step toward truth.
DENIS DIDEROT

Evidence Question Truth
I can be expected to look for truth but not to find it.
DENIS DIDEROT

Expectation Finding Myself Truth
Does anyone really know where they’re going to?
DENIS DIDEROT

Direction Journey Path
We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates.
DENIS DIDEROT

Association Catch Ourselves Vice
Integrity is the evidence of all civil virtues.
DENIS DIDEROT

Evidence Integrity Virtue
The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.
DENIS DIDEROT

Anand Thakur
Isn’t it better to have men being ungrateful than to miss a chance to do good?
DENIS DIDEROT

Better Chance Goodness Man
Oh! how near are genius and madness! Men imprison them and chain them, or raise statues to them.
DENIS DIDEROT

Genius Madness Raise Status
There’s a bit of testicle at the bottom of our most sublime feelings and our purest tenderness.
DENIS DIDEROT

Anand Thakur
The world is the house of the strong.
DENIS DIDEROT

Hard Time Inspirational Strong World
When 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 DIDEROT

Compare Corner Forget Talent Temptation
There are things I can’t force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.
DENIS DIDEROT

Adjust Change Force Need Point View
I have not the hope of being immortal, because the desire of it has not given me that vanity.
DENIS DIDEROT

Desire Hope Immortal Myself
Which is the greater merit, to enlighten the human race, which remains forever, or to save one’s fatherland, which is perishable?
DENIS DIDEROT

Enlightenment Father Greatness Oneself Perish Save

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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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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Popular Authors

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