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There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.

Denis Diderot

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

Belief Law Myself Nation People Thinking
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
Every man has his dignity. I’m willing to forget mine, but at my own discretion and not when someone else tells me to.
DENIS DIDEROT

Dignity Man Myself Willing
You can be sure that a painter reveals himself in his work as much as and more than a writer does in his.
DENIS DIDEROT

Himself Paint Reveal Writing
If ever anybody dedicated his whole life to the “enthusiasm for truth and justice” using this phrase in the good sense it was Diderot.
DENIS DIDEROT

Dedication Enthusiasm Goodness Life Sense
The general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action.
DENIS DIDEROT

Action Allow Freedom Genius Interest Place
The best doctor is the one you run to and can’t find.
DENIS DIDEROT

Best Doctor Finding Oneself Run
The possibility of divorce renders both marriage partners stricter in their observance of the duties they owe to each other. Divorces help to improve morals and to increase the population.
DENIS DIDEROT

Divorce Improvement Marriage Partner Population Possible
When we know to read our own hearts, we acquire wisdom of the heartsof others.
DENIS DIDEROT

Heart Known Wisdom
Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.
DENIS DIDEROT

Poetry Vast Wild
What is a monster? A being whose survival is incompatible with the existing order.
DENIS DIDEROT

Existence Monster Survive
We are all instruments endowed with feeling and memory. Our senses are so many strings that are struck by surrounding objects and that also frequently strike themselves.
DENIS DIDEROT

Feeling Instrument Memories Object Surround
If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him.
DENIS DIDEROT

Believe God Himself Touch
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.
DENIS DIDEROT

Age Early Milk Myself
Give, but, if possible, spare the poor man the shame of begging.
DENIS DIDEROT

Beg Compassionate Man Poor Possible Shame
Gaiety is a quality of ordinary men. Genius always presupposes some disorder in the machine.
DENIS DIDEROT

Machine Order Ordinary Quality
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
Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.
DENIS DIDEROT

Philosophy Road
Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order! Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control.
DENIS DIDEROT

Control Order People Yourself
The pit of a theatre is the one place where the tears of virtuous and wicked men alike are mingled.
DENIS DIDEROT

Anand Thakur
How easy it is to tell tales!
DENIS DIDEROT

Easy Story
Only a very bad theologian would confuse the certainty that follows revelation with the truths that are revealed. They are entirely different things.
DENIS DIDEROT

Bad Confusion Different Follow Reveal Truth
Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.
DENIS DIDEROT

Anand Thakur
My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.
DENIS DIDEROT

Blow Clear Finding Friendship Way
Wandering in a vast forest at night, I have only a faint light to guide me. A stranger appears and says to me: ‘My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.’ This stranger is a theologian.
DENIS DIDEROT

Finding Forest Night Order Stranger Wander Yourself
What a fine comedy this world would be if one did not play a part in it.
DENIS DIDEROT

Comedy Oneself Play World
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

Bad Company Innocent Instruction Loss One Prejudice

There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.

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There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.

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