Home / Quotes / Quote by Denis Diderot

Quote by Denis Diderot

“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.”

Quote by Denis Diderot

Author

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. more

You May Also Like

“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.”

Light Religion Darkness Blow Guides Forests Thick Theologian Agnosticism Guide Me Flickering Light

Author:Denis Diderot

“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.”

People Knows Use Religion Know How Atheism Dangerous Aim Occasions Fanatics Fanaticism Madmen

Author:Denis Diderot

“There is not a Musselman 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.”

Action Earth Christian Religion Sides Alive Imagine Holy Performing Prophet Imagine That Holy Prophet

Author:Denis Diderot

“An Inuit hunter asked the local missionary priest: If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell? No, said the priest, not if you did not know. Then why, asked the Inuit earnestly, did you tell me?”

“I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear. I hope to be spared as much pain as possible on the approach path. I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state.”

Thinking Knows Believe States Pain Religion I Believe Sides Born Path Approach Do Not Fear

Book:Life Itself: A Memoir

Source: Life Itself: A Memoir

“During the youthful period of mankind's spiritual evolution human fantasy created gods in man's own image, who, by the operations of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate to influence, the phenomenal world. Man sought to alter the disposition of these gods in his own favour by means of magic and prayer.”

Source: Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words

“For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions, and the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything chosen about them.”

People Humans Different Religion Quality Groups Worst Atheist Cancer Israel Mentality Superstitions Protected Incarnation Affinity Jewish Religion

Author:Albert Einstein

“Since our inner experiences consist of reproductions, and combinations of sensory impressions, the concept of a soul without a body seem to me to be empty and devoid of meaning.”

Soul Body Seems Religion Atheism Concepts Empty Atheist Impression Combination Reproduction Sensory Atheistic Spiritualism Dualism

Book:Albert Einstein, The Human Side: Glimpses from His Archives

Source: Albert Einstein, The Human Side: Glimpses from His Archives

“Accustom yourself to believe that death is nothing to us, for good and evil imply awareness, and death is the privation of all awareness; therefore a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not by adding to life an unlimited time, but by taking away the yearning after immortality. For life has no terror; for those who thoroughly apprehend that there are no terrors for them in ceasing to live.”

Believe Religion Evil Understanding Awareness Terror Immortality Good And Evil Mortality Yearning Unlimited Enjoy Life Enjoyable

Book:Stoic Six Pack 3: The Epicureans

Source: Stoic Six Pack 3: The Epicureans

“This attitude of mind - this attitude of uncertainty - is vital to the scientist, and it is this attitude of mind which the student must first acquire. It becomes a habit of thought. Once acquired, we cannot retreat from it anymore.”

Mind Firsts Religion Attitude Students Habit Scientist Uncertainty Acquire Retreat

Book:The Quotable Feynman

Source: The Quotable Feynman