“L'homme est ne pour la socie te ; se parez-le, isolez-le, ses ide es se de suniront, son caracte' re se tournera, mille affections ridicules s'e le' veront dans son coeur; des 274 pense es extravagantes germeront dans son esprit, comme les ronces dans une terre sauvage. Man is born to live in society: separate him, isolate him, and his ideas disintegrate, his character changes, a thousand ridiculous affectations rise up in his heart; extreme thoughts take hold in his mind, like the brambles in a wild field.”
Quote by Denis Diderot
Author
Denis Diderot
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
“To prove the Gospels by a miracle is to prove an absurdity by something contrary to nature.”
Source: Diderot, interpreter of nature: selected writings
“Fate is a sea without a shore, and the soul is a rock that abides.”
Source: Selected poems
“The tadpole poet will never grow into anything bigger than a frog.”
Source: Swinburne Replies: Notes on Poems and Reviews, Under the Microscope [and] Dedicatory Epistle
Source: The Works of Algernon Charles Swinburne...: Tragedies: The Queen Mother; Rosamond; Chastelard; Bothwell; Mary Stuart; Locrine; The Sisters; Marino Faliero
Source: Selected Verse