Denis Diderot Quotes - Famous Quotes by Denis Diderot
Born: 1713-10-05
Died: 1784-07-31
Denis Diderot Biography
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.
- Denis Diderot
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All children are essentially criminal.
- Denis Diderot
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Fanaticism is just one step away from barbarism.
- Denis Diderot
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Genius is present in every age, but the men carrying it within them remain benumbed unless extraordinary events occur to heat up and melt the mass so that it flows forth.
- Denis Diderot
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I can be expected to look for truth but not to find it.
- Denis Diderot
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Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
- Denis Diderot
More quotations on: [ Freedom ] ***
Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.
- Denis Diderot
More quotations on: [ Passion ] ***
Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common.
- Denis Diderot
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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
More quotations on: [ Education ] ***
There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge. . . observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts reflection combines them experimentation verifies the result of that combination.
- Denis Diderot
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There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.
- Denis Diderot
More quotations on: [ Morality ] ***
Virtue is praised but hated. People run away from it, for it is ice-cold and in this world you must keep your feet warm.
- Denis Diderot
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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
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We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip little by little at a truth we find bitter.
- Denis Diderot
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What has not been examined impartially has not been well examined. Skepticism is therefore the first step toward truth.
- Denis Diderot
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