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.
DENIS DIDEROTPower 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.
More Denis Diderot Quotes
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There are cats and cats.
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If you disturb the colors of the rainbow, the rainbow is no longer beautiful.
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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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The blood of Jesus Christ can cover a multitude of sins, it seems to me.
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The God of the Christians is a father who makes much of his apples, and very little of his children.
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Isn’t it better to have men being ungrateful than to miss a chance to do good?
DENIS DIDEROT -
There is no kind of harassment that a man may not inflict on a woman with impunity in civilized societies.
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All children are essentially criminal.
DENIS DIDEROT -
The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them on occasion.
DENIS DIDEROT -
Mankind 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 DIDEROT -
There is less harm to be suffered in being mad among madmen than in being sane all by oneself.
DENIS DIDEROT -
Gaiety is a quality of ordinary men. Genius always presupposes some disorder in the machine.
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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.
DENIS DIDEROT -
One composition is meagre, though it has many figures; another is rich, though it has few.
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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.
DENIS DIDEROT -
Instinct guides the animal better than the man. In the animal it is pure, in man it is led astray by his reason and intelligence.
DENIS DIDEROT -
It has been said that love robs those who have it of their wit, and gives it to those who have none.
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Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.
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A nation which thinks that it is belief in God and not good law which makes people honest does not seem to me very advanced.
DENIS DIDEROT -
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 -
My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.
DENIS DIDEROT -
There is no true sovereign except the nation; there can be no true legislator except the people.
DENIS DIDEROT -
When we know to read our own hearts, we acquire wisdom of the heartsof others.
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Gratitude is a burden, and every burden is made to be shaken off.
DENIS DIDEROT -
Only a very bad theologian would confuse the certainty that follows revelation with the truths that are revealed. They are entirely different things.
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Distance is a great promoter of admiration.
DENIS DIDEROT