One may demand of me that I should seek truth, but not that I should find it.
DENIS DIDEROTRelated Topics
Anand Thakur
One may demand of me that I should seek truth, but not that I should find it.
DENIS DIDEROTWhen we know to read our own hearts, we acquire wisdom of the heartsof others.
DENIS DIDEROTOnly God and some few rare geniuses can keep forging ahead into novelty.
DENIS DIDEROTTime, matter, space – all, it may be, are no more than a point.
DENIS DIDEROTOne composition is meagre, though it has many figures; another is rich, though it has few.
DENIS DIDEROTWhatever dressing one gives to mushrooms, to whatever sauces our Apiciuses put them, they are not really good but to be sent back to the dungheap where they are born.
DENIS DIDEROTGive, but, if possible, spare the poor man the shame of begging.
DENIS DIDEROTThe general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action.
DENIS DIDEROTWhich is the greater merit, to enlighten the human race, which remains forever, or to save one’s fatherland, which is perishable?
DENIS DIDEROTThere are three principal means of acquiring knowledge, observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination.
DENIS DIDEROTThere is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.
DENIS DIDEROTFirst of all move me, surprise me, rend my heart; make me tremble, weep, shudder; outrage me; delight my eyes afterwards if you can.
DENIS DIDEROTAre 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 DIDEROTIgnorance is less remote from the truth than prejudice.
DENIS DIDEROTFor me, my thoughts are my prostitutes.
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 DIDEROT