Denis Diderot Quotes
1713 - 1784
More Denis Diderot Quotes
There is no kind of harassment that a man may not inflict on a woman with impunity in civilized societies.
Denis Diderot— "On Women" (1772), as translated in Selected Writings (1966) edited by Lester G. Crocker
Impenetrable in their dissimulation, cruel in their vengeance, tenacious in their purposes, unscrupulous as to their methods, animated by profound and hidden hatred for the tyranny of man it is as though there exists among them an ever-present conspiracy toward domination, a sort of alliance like that subsisting among the priests of every country.
Denis Diderot— "On Women" (1772), as translated in Selected Writings (1966) edited by Lester G. Crocker
In order to shake a hypothesis, it is sometimes not necessary to do anything more than push it as far as it will go.
Denis Diderot— On the Interpretation of Nature, No. 30 (1753)
La poe sie veutquelque chose d'e norme, debarbare et de sauvage. Poetry needs something on the scale of the grand, the barbarous, the savage.
Denis Diderot— 1758 Discours sur la poe sie dramatique.
Le public ne sait pas toujours de sirer le vrai. Thepublicdoesnot alwaysknowhow todesirethetruth.
Denis Diderot— 1758 Discours sur la poe sie dramatique.
Mes pense es sont mes catins. My thoughts are my prostitutes.
Denis Diderot— 1761-74 Le Neveu de Rameau.
Rien ne dissemble plus de lui que lui-me" me. Nothing resembles him less than himself.
Denis Diderot— 1761-74 Le Neveu de Rameau.
If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him.
Denis Diderot— Portraying a fictional conversation of Nicholas Saunderson with a priest, in ' Lettre sur les aveugles [Letter about the Blind] (1749), as quoted in Diderot and the Encyclopædists (1897) by John Morley, p. 92. Publication of this work resulted in Diderot being arrested and imprisoned.
What is this world of ours? A complex entity subject to sudden changes which all indicate a tendency to destruction; a swift succession of beings which follow one another, assert themselves and disappear; a fleeting symmetry; a momentary order.
Denis Diderot— Dying words of Nicholas Saunderson as portrayed in Lettre sur les aveugles [Letter on the Blind] (1749)
When one compares the talents one has with those of a Leibniz , one is tempted to throw away one's books and go die quietly in the dark of some forgotten corner.
Denis Diderot— Oeuvres complètes, vol. 7, p. 678.
Only a very bad theologian would confuse the certainty that follows revelation with the truths that are revealed. They are entirely different things.
Denis Diderot— Apology for the Abbé de Prades (1752)
Watch out for the fellow who talks about putting things in order! Putting things in order always means getting other people under your control.
Denis Diderot— "Supplement to Bougainville's Voyage" (1796)
The wisest among us is very lucky never to have met the woman, be she beautiful or ugly, intelligent or stupid, who could drive him crazy enough to be fit to be put into an asylum.
Denis Diderot— Ceci n’est pas un conte [This Is No Tale] (1796),
I have often seen an actor laugh off the stage, but I don’t remember ever having seen one weep.
Denis Diderot— "Paradox on Acting" (1830), as quoted in Selected Writings (1966) edited by Lester G. Crocker
Evil always turns up in this world through some genius or other.
Denis Diderot— As quoted in Dictionary of Foreign Quotations (1980) by Mary Collison, Robert L. Collison, p. 98
There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.
Denis Diderot— As quoted in Dictionary of Foreign Quotations (1980) by Mary Collison, Robert L. Collison, p. 235
I believe in God, although I live very happily with atheists... It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley; but not at all so to believe or not in God.
Denis Diderot— As quoted in Against the Faith (1985) by Jim Herrick, p. 75Variant translation: It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all.
There are things I can't force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.
Denis Diderot— As quoted in Cracking the Code of Our Physical Universe : The Key to a Whole New World of Enlightenment and Enrichment (2006) by Matthew M Radmanesh, p. 91
To prove the Gospels by a miracle is to prove an absurdity by something contrary to nature.
Denis Diderot— As quoted in The Anchor Book of French Quotations with English Translations (1963) by Norbert Gutermam
To say that man is a compound of strength and weakness, light and darkness, smallness and greatness, is not to indict him, it is to define him.
Denis Diderot— As quoted in The Anchor Book of French Quotations with English Translations (1963) by Norbert Gutermam
Aucun homme n'a recu de la nature le droit de commander aux autres. La liberté est un présent du ciel, et chaque individu de la meme espèce a le droit d'en jouir aussitòt qu'il jouit de la raison.
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.Article on Political Authority, Vol. 1, (1751) as quoted in Selected Writings (1966) edited by Lester G. CrockerVariant translation: No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings.
La puissance qui s'acquiert par la violence n'est qu'une usurpation, et ne dure qu'autant que la force de celui qui commande l'emporte sur celle de ceux qui obéissent.
Denis Diderot— Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of those who obey.Article on Political Authority, Vol. 1 (1751)
All abstract sciences are nothing but the study of relations between signs.
Denis Diderot— Dr. Théophile de Bordeu, in “Conversation Between D’Alembert and Diderot”
We are all instruments endowed with feeling and memory. Our senses are so many strings that are struck by surrounding objects and that also frequently strike themselves.
Denis Diderot— “Conversation Between D’Alembert and Diderot”
Égaré dans une forêt immense pendant la nuit, je n’ai qu’une petite lumière pour me conduire. Survient un inconnu qui me dit:;: Mon ami, souffle ta bougie pour mieux trouver ton chemin. Cet inconnu est un théologien. No VIII
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. — Number VIII
The world is the house of the strong. I shall not know until the end what I have lost or won in this place, in this vast gambling den where I have spent more than sixty years, dicebox in hand, shaking the dice.
Denis Diderot— Conclusion (Elements of Physiology (1875))
Although a man may wear fine clothing, if he lives peacefully; and is good, self-possessed, has faith and is pure; and if he does not hurt any living being, he is a holy man.
Denis Diderot— Gautama Buddha, as quoted in the Dhammapada.
If I had believed him, everything would have been turned upside down... all would have been turned topsy-turvy to make room for impractical theories.
Denis Diderot— Catherine the Great as quoted by Jackson J. Spielvogel
If ever anybody dedicated his whole life to the "enthusiasm for truth and justice" using this phrase in the good sense it was Diderot.
Denis Diderot— Friedrich Engels in Diderot: Interpreter of Nature (London: 1937)
