Denis Diderot Quotes

Those who fear the facts will forever try to discredit the fact-finders.

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.

All things must be examined, debated, investigated without exception and without regard for anyone's feelings.

Happiest are the people who give most happiness to others.

Superstition is more injurious to God than atheism.

From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.

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

No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings.

Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.

We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates.

In any country where talent and virtue produce no advancement, money will be the national god. Its inhabitants will either have to possess money or make others believe that they do. Wealth will be the highest virtue, poverty the greatest vice.

What a fine comedy this world would be if one did not play a part in it.

The Christian religion teaches us to imitate a God that is cruel, insidious, jealous, and implacable in his wrath.

Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.

There 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.

He whom we call a gentleman is no longer the man of Nature.

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.

There is only one duty; that is to be happy.

A thing is not proved just because no one has ever questioned it. What has never been gone into impartially has never been properly gone into. Hence scepticism is the first step toward truth. It must be applied generally, because it is the touchstone.

You have to make it happen.

Ignorance is less remote from the truth than prejudice.

Distance is a great promoter of admiration.

There is less harm to be suffered in being mad among madmen than in being sane all by oneself.

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.