Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderotʁo]; 5 October 1713 – 31 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent figure during the Enlightenment and is best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the Encyclopédie along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert...
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth5 October 1713
girl fashion religious
There comes a moment during which almost every girl or boy falls into melancholy; they are tormented by a vague inquietude which rests on everything and finds nothing to calm it. They seek solitude; they weep; the silence to be found in cloister attracts them: the image of peace that seems to reign in religious houses seduces them. They mistake the first manifestations of a developing sexual nature for the voice of God calling them to Himself; and it is precisely when nature is inciting them that they embrace a fashion of life contrary to nature's wish.
steps barbarism just-one
Fanaticism is just one step away from barbarism.
firsts steps first-steps
A thing is not proved because no one has ever questioned it... Skepticism is the first step toward truth.
plato atheism age
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.
doe painter
You can be sure that a painter reveals himself in his work as much as and more than a writer does in his.
men genius madness
Oh! how near are genius and madness! Men imprison them and chain them, or raise statues to them.
sublime useless doe
Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.
country europe government
Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government; they are not African or Asian or European: they are good or bad.
justice literature firsts
Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.
order literature sometimes
In order to shake a hypothesis, it is sometimes not necessary to do anything more than push it as far as it will go.
christian holy-prophet religion
There is not a Musselman[Muslim] alive who would not imagine that he was performing an action pleasing to God and his Holy Prophet by exterminating every Christian on earth, while the Christians are scarcely more tolerant on their side.
happiness men quality
Gaiety is a quality of ordinary men. Genius always presupposes some disorder in the machine.
men theatre wicked
The pit of a theatre is the one place where the tears of virtuous and wicked men alike are mingled.
freedom might genius
The general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action.