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Denis Diderot Quotes

Philosopher

Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer who played a pivotal role in the Enlightenment. He is best known for his work on the Encyclopédie, which aimed to compile all the knowledge of the time into a single work.

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All Men Literature Ifs Atheism Positive Atheism Firsts Religion Order People Doe Giving Philosophy Reason Virtue World Steps Genius May Passion Should

Famous Denis Diderot Quotes

“But if you will recall the history of our civil troubles, you will see half the nation bathe itself, out of piety, in the blood of the other half, and violate the fundamental feelings of humanity in order to sustain the cause of God: as though it were necessary to cease to be a man in order to prove oneself religious!”

Ifs Men Feelings Humanity Order Nations Causes Religious Half Trouble Blood Atheism Prove Fundamentals Oneself Positive Atheism Cease Recalls Be A Man Piety Other Half

Author:Denis Diderot

“If reason be a gift of Heaven, and we can say as much of faith, Heaven has certainly made us two gifts not only incompatible, but in direct contradiction to each other. In order to solve the difficulty, we are compelled to say either that faith is a chimera or that reason is useless.”

Ifs Made Two Reason Order Heaven Direct Difficulty Solve Useless Contradiction Compelled Chimera

Author:Denis Diderot

“What is this world? A complex whole, subject to endless revolutions. All these revolutions show a continual tendency to destruction; a swift succession of beings who follow one another, press forward, and vanish; a fleeting symmetry; the order of a moment. I reproached you just now with estimating the perfection of things by your own capacity; and I might accuse you here of measuring its duration by the length of your own days.”

“What is a monster? A being whose survival is incompatible with the existing order.”

Order Survival Monsters

Author:Denis Diderot

“No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others. Freedom is a gift from heaven, and every individual of the same species has the right to enjoy it as soon as he is in enjoyment of his reason.”

Men Giving Reason Order Individual Heaven Enjoy Freedom Species Positive Atheism Enjoyment

Book:Selected Writings

Source: Selected Writings

“In order to get as much fame as one's father one has to much more able than he.”

Able Order Father Fame Reputation

Book:Rameau's Nephew and Other Works

Source: Rameau's Nephew and Other Works

“My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.”

Way Should Order My Friends Blow Candle

Author:Denis Diderot

“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.”

Way Should Light Night Order My Friends Blow Stranger Positive Atheism Guides Forests Wander Candle Theologian Guide Me

Author:Denis Diderot

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

People Mean Religion Order Watches Power Management Fellows Tyranny Organized

Author:Denis Diderot

“To attempt the destruction of our passions is the height of folly. What a noble aim is that of the zealot who tortures himself like a madman in order to desire nothing, love nothing, feel nothing, and who, if he succeeded, would end up a complete monster!”

Ifs Love Feels Ends Desire Religion Order Passion Destruction Aim Noble Monsters Height Torture Folly Madmen Asceticism Zealot

Book:Selected Writings

Source: Selected Writings

“In order to shake a hypothesis, it is sometimes not necessary to do anything more than push it as far as it will go.”

Sometimes Order Literature Shakes Hypothesis

Book:Selected Writings

Source: Selected Writings

“If you disturb the colors of the rainbow, the rainbow is no longer beautiful.”

Ifs Beautiful Order Color Rainbow Colors Of The Rainbow

Author:Denis Diderot