We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip little by little at a truth we find bitter. Denis Diderot More Quotes by Denis Diderot More Quotes From Denis Diderot The decisions of law courts should never be printed: in the long run, they form a counter authority to the law. Denis Diderot lawrunninglong Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths. Denis Diderot sublimeuselessdoe If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him. Denis Diderot atheismliteraturebelieve It seems to me that if one had kept silence up to now regarding religion, people would still be submerged in the most grotesque and dangerous superstition ... regarding government, we would still be groaning under the bonds of feudal government ... regarding morals, we would still be having to learn what is virtue and what is vice. To forbid all these discussions, the only ones worthy of occupying a good mind, is to perpetuate the reign of ignorance and barbarism. Denis Diderot governmentignorancepeople 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! Denis Diderot passionloveorder Superstition is more injurious to God than atheism. Denis Diderot positive-atheismsuperstitionsatheism Fanaticism is just one step away from barbarism. Denis Diderot barbarismjust-onesteps As long as the centuries continue to unfold, the number of books will grow continually, and one can predict that a time will come when it will be almost as difficult to learn anything from books as from the direct study of the whole universe. It will be almost as convenient to search for some bit of truth concealed in nature as it will be to find it hidden away in an immense multitude of bound volumes. Denis Diderot learningnumbersbook Ignorance is less remote from the truth than prejudice. Denis Diderot prejudiceignorance If there are one hundred thousand damned souls for one saved soul, the devil has always the advantage without having given up his son to death. Denis Diderot devilsoulson When shall we see poets born? After a time of disasters and great misfortunes, when harrowed nations begin to breathe again. And then, shaken by the terror of such spectacles, imaginations will paint things entirely strange to those who have not witnessed them. Denis Diderot breathestrangeimagination Philosophy is as far separated from impiety as religion is from fanaticism. Denis Diderot fanaticismphilosophy 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. Denis Diderot vicesbelievecountry Only passions, and great passions, can raise the soul to great things. Without them there is no sublimity, either in morals or in creativity. Art returns to infancy, and virtue becomes small-minded. Denis Diderot creativitypassionart Which is the greater merit, to enlighten the human race, which remains forever, or to save one's fatherland, which is perishable? Denis Diderot atheismraceforever Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it. Denis Diderot patriotismpatrioticephemeral 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, dice box in hand, shaking the dice. Denis Diderot gamblingstronghands If your little savage were left to himself and be allowed to retain all his ignorance, he would in time join the infant's reasoning to the grown man's passion, he would strangle his father and sleep with his mother. Denis Diderot passionmotherfather We are constantly railing against the passions; we ascribe to them all of man's afflictions, and we forget that they are also the source of all his pleasures. Denis Diderot passionsufferingmen 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 hurtselfmen
