The 70 best phrases of Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot was a well-known French philosopher and writer, born in the country town of Langres during the year 1713.
Thanks to his personal contributions, the Enlightenment as a current of thought began to permeate French society of the time with great effectiveness, culminating in the Encyclopedia. Had it not been for Diderot, France would never have managed to evolve so quickly as a society and perhaps it would not be the same as we all know it today.
- It may interest you: "The 70 most famous phrases of Jean-Jacques Rousseau"
Denis Diderot quotes
Many of us have heard a lot about him, although perhaps we are largely unaware of his most interesting insights.
Below you can enjoy a selection of the 70 best phrases of Denis Diderot, an exceptional philosopher who, as you will now discover, had some really advanced personal ideas for his time.
1. Those who fear the facts will always try to discredit the fact seekers.
Only by knowing the truth, we will be able to get an accurate idea about a certain topic. Although being too curious on certain occasions can end up harming us quite severely.
2. Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
As we can see, the monarchy and the Church did not agree with the personal ideas of this famous philosopher. A way of thinking that many people, as we know, currently support.
3. All things must be examined, debated, investigated without exception and without regard to anyone's feelings.
The truth can only be discovered through scientific analysis, a form of investigation in which feelings have never had a place.
4. We greedily swallow any lie that flatters us, but we only slowly sip the truth that we find bitter.
The truth is sometimes too harsh to be accepted. In those situations, as they say, we must learn to bite the bullet.
5. The happiest are the people who give the most happiness to others.
Seeing everyone around us happy will also indirectly produce great happiness in us.
6. Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.
We should all dedicate our lives to those great passions that we possess, for that is the true path to our happiness.
7. The Christian religion teaches us to imitate a God who is cruel, insidious, jealous and implacable in his wrath.
Christianity, as we see, was seen from his personal point of view as an evil and greedy religion, an idea that Diderot maintained throughout his life.
8. Watch out for the guy who talks about putting things in order! Putting things in order always means putting other people under your control.
Giving absolute control of an entire society to a certain person can be something that ends up hurting the vast majority of us. As a society we must know how to choose our leaders with great caution.
9. In general, boys, like men, and men, like boys, prefer entertainment to education.
The human being is a deeply social animal, perhaps this is why we always prefer purely leisure activities to work.
10. Skepticism is the first step on the path to philosophy.
Philosophy usually seeks to give an answer to things that up to that moment do not have it, so the first step to start philosophizing will always be to find the right question for it.
11. The philosopher has never killed any priest, while the priest has killed many philosophers.
During the time of the inquisition, the Church killed a large number of people, including many philosophers.
12. From fanaticism to barbarism there is only one step.
Extremism in religious matters is something really dangerous, because throughout history, as we know, this type of belief has caused numerous bloodsheds.
13. We must run over all these ancient childishness, tear down the barriers that reason never erected, return to the arts and sciences the freedom that is so precious to them.
For Diderot, science was the path to the progress of humanity, the only true religion worth worshipping.
14. Doctors are always working to preserve our health and cooks to destroy it, but the latter are the most successful.
A diet of excesses will undoubtedly take us to the grave more quickly, something that Diderot already knew in the middle of the 18th century.
15. No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow men.
A leader must always be elected by the people, those who have managed to seize power by force, sooner or later will undoubtedly end up being executed.
16. There are three main means of acquiring knowledge... observation of nature, reflection and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; Experimentation verifies the result of that combination.
A quote that accurately describes the scientific method, a method through which human beings subject everything we do not know to a deep analysis.
17. There is only one virtue, justice; only one duty, to be happy; just a corollary, do not overestimate life and do not fear death.
This quote tells us about the way Diderot lived his life, maxims that always represented him until the day he died.
18. Does anyone really know where they are going?
You never know where life will take you, the future for all of us is much more uncertain than we commonly think.
19. I am completely yours, you are everything to me; we will support each other in all the ills of life that fate can inflict on us; You will calm my problems; I will comfort you in yours.
Our partner can be the person who gives us the most support in our life, thanks to him or her we can undoubtedly be much happier and more complete.
20. It is not the man who is out of his mind, but the one who is serene, who owns his countenance, his voice, of his actions, of his gestures, of every part of his game, who can work on others at his taste.
Controlling our emotions can help us show a much more powerful image of ourselves in society. Something that will certainly be very favorable to us in our day to day.
21. Give, but spare the poor man the shame of begging if possible.
Having to beg is something very hard for anyone, because when we do it we usually feel that we have become the most undesirable thing in our society.
22. To say that man is a compound of strength and weakness, light and darkness, smallness and greatness, is not to accuse him, it is to define him.
As this quote tells us, people are really ambiguous. We are fully capable of performing the greatest actions and also of committing the greatest evils.
23. It is very important not to confuse hemlock with parsley, but believing or not believing in God is not important at all.
Atheism in the 18th century was beginning to not be seen with such a bad eye, something that years ago would have been totally unthinkable.
24. The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and people whose goal is to disrupt society always know how to put them to good use on occasion.
This famous philosopher knew full well what religious extremism had done in the past, For this reason, society had to abandon its exacerbated faith in order to evolve towards a more prosperous.
25. A nation that thinks it is belief in God and not good law that makes people honest doesn't seem very advanced to me.
In Diderot's time religion was beginning to become obsolete. The illustration was a current of thought on the rise at that time, which undoubtedly changed people's opinions to a great extent.
26. There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.
The search for happiness is something we all share, unfortunately few manage to find it.
27. It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the opposite is true: the will is a product of desire.
When we want something we tend to get going quickly to try to get it, that's how people's minds work broadly.
28. But if you remember the history of our civil troubles, you will see that half the nation bathes, out of pity, in the blood of the other half, and violates the fundamental sentiments of humanity to support the cause of God: as though it was necessary to stop being a man in order to prove to be religious!
The most despicable acts in the history of humanity have been committed in the name of religions, we must not allow religious fundamentalism to take over our lives.
29. The most educated people are the most absurd lovers.
Education will not immediately make us complete people, experience will always be a degree that we must obtain over the years.
30. There is no true sovereign except the nation; there can be no true lawgiver except the people.
The people should always have true control of the nation in which they live, perhaps it would be interesting to think about holding referendums in a much more common way.
31. If exclusive privileges are not granted, and if the financial system does not tend to concentrate wealth, there would be few great fortunes and no quick wealth. When the means of getting rich is divided among a greater number of citizens, wealth will also be more evenly distributed; Extreme poverty and extreme wealth would also be rare.
The economy should undoubtedly allow us all to get rich throughout our lives, something that unfortunately does not seem to happen as frequently as it should.
32. In any country where talent and virtue do not produce advancement, money will be the national god. Its inhabitants will have to possess money or make others believe that they do. Wealth will be the greatest virtue, poverty the greatest vice.
In today's capitalist world, a person without money seems to have no remarkable quality, money has unfortunately become the main objective of each and every one of us.
33. To be born in imbecility, in the midst of pain and crisis; to be the toy of ignorance, error, necessity, illness, malice and passions; return step by step to imbecility, from the moment of lisping to that of love; live among knaves and charlatans of all kinds; die between a man who feels your pulse and another who bothers your head; You will never know where you come from, why you come and where you are going! That is what is called the most important gift of our parents and nature. Life.
Life is very complicated for the vast majority of people, we must learn to improve ourselves if we want to be successful in our personal development.
34. A thing is not proven just because no one has questioned it.
Only through exhaustive analysis will we come to know the truth about a certain subject. We should not take anything for granted before we have studied it.
35. You run the risk of being both gullible and suspicious.
Our way of expressing ourselves says a lot about us to others, having a correct attitude in society can take us a long way in our lives.
36. We must not accuse human nature, but the contemptible conventions that pervert it.
Human beings have the ability to do great works and also to destroy them, it is ultimately up to us what kind of person we really want to be.
37. Oh! How close are genius and madness! Men imprison them and chain them, or erect statues for them.
All geniuses also possess some madness, so it seems that both qualities tend to feed off each other.
38. You can be sure that a painter reveals himself in his work as much and more than a writer in his.
Writing and painting are two artistic means, by which a determined artist can manage to communicate everything that he feels. What is art if not a means of communication for our feelings?
39. Morality in all countries is the result of legislation and government; they are not African, Asian or European: they are good or bad.
Only with a good government can a society head towards its best future, for this reason we must know how to choose our leaders very wisely.
40. The genius is present in all times, but the men who carry it within them remain numb unless extraordinary events occur to heat and melt the mass so that flow.
The most stressful events humanity can go through certainly sharpen people's wits.
41. A dance is a poem.
Just like the words seem to dance in poetry, the dance is a poem brought to the bodily movement of the human being.
42. First of all move me, surprise me, tear my heart; make me tremble, cry, shake; I am outraged feast my eyes afterwards if you can.
Life can be wonderful, the world throughout our lives will most likely never cease to amaze us.
43. I like more when one says something silly about important matters than to remain silent. That becomes the subject of discussion and dispute, and the truth is discovered.
As we can see, Diderot loved to debate, debates were for him a possible door to the truth of any matter.
44. How old is the world! I walk between two eternities... What is my fleeting existence compared to that decaying rock, that valley digging its channel deeper and deeper, that tottering forest and those great masses on my head about to fall? I see the marble of the tombs crumbling into dust; And yet I don't want to die!
Life is very short, for this reason we should not waste even a second of it.
45. I have no hope of being immortal, because desire has not given me that vanity.
Diderot was very calm in his weakness, being immortal was something that simply never caught his attention.
46. You can be expected to seek the truth but not find it.
Truth can be a very elusive property, in some areas perhaps no matter how much we search for it, we never really get to know it.
47. Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that hardly outlasts the particular threat to the society that aroused it.
Extreme patriotism can lead us directly to nationalism, a certain ideology that can be very detrimental to the proper development of any nation.
48. One must be very little philosopher not to feel that the greatest privilege of our reason consists in not believing in anything by the impulse of a blind and mechanical instinct, and that it is to dishonor reason to put it in bonds like the chaldeans Man is born to think for himself.
We all have the ability to think for ourselves, we must not allow the ideas of third parties to direct our lives.
49. What has not been fairly examined has not been well examined. Skepticism is therefore the first step towards the truth.
We should never draw our own conclusions, before knowing a subject in depth.
50. The child runs towards him with his eyes closed, the adult stands still, the old man approaches with his back turned.
With the passing of the years our attitude towards life will change remarkably, the experiences we live today will make us the person we will be tomorrow.
51. Man is born to live in society: separate him, isolate him, and his ideas disintegrate, his character changes, a thousand ridiculous affections rise up in his heart; extreme thoughts take over his mind, like brambles in a wild field.
Human beings alone tend to be much more unhappy, the interaction between us seems to be something that we simply need.
52. It seems to me that the blood of Jesus Christ can cover a multitude of sins.
The church has covered with religion numerous sins that its leaders committed, a way of acting that has undoubtedly taken a heavy toll on them today.
53. I am more affected by the attractions of virtue than by the deformities of vice; I gently walk away from the wicked and fly to meet the good. If there is a beautiful place in a literary work, in a character, in an image, in a statue, that is where my eyes rest; I only see that, I only remember that, everything else is almost forgotten. What becomes of me when all the work is beautiful!
Reading was a hobby that always occupied a privileged place in his life, if it had not been so, Diderot would never have become such a talented writer.
54. We are constantly railing against the passions; we attribute to them all the afflictions of man, and we forget that they are also the source of all his pleasures.
If it weren't for his passion, the human being would never have come this far, passions can be a great driving force in our lives.
55. The wisest among us is very lucky not to have met the woman, beautiful or ugly, clever or stupid, who could drive him crazy enough to be in an asylum.
If our partner truly loves us, they will never abandon us, no matter how much time passes or how old we are.
56. It has been said that love robs those who have it of their wits, and gives it to those who don't.
Love can be a very capricious emotion, sometimes it can make us commit actions that we would never do if it weren't for it.
57. Ignorance is less far from the truth than prejudice.
One that perhaps many of us should always keep in mind, we should never create false prejudices about matters that we really do not know.
58. I discuss with myself questions of politics, love, taste or philosophy. I let my mind wander aimlessly, giving free rein to any idea, wise or crazy that may come my way.
We should never talk about a subject, on which we do not previously have a well-formed opinion. Talking without knowing will always be an unmistakable path to a mistake.
59. Two essential qualities for the artist: morality and perspective.
Morality is an excellent quality that undoubtedly tends to be conspicuous by its absence within the artistic world, something that this famous French writer never managed to understand.
60. For me, my thoughts are my prostitutes.
His mind was his personal playground for him. Immersed in it, Diderot would end up spending a good part of what would ultimately be his life.
61. What is a monster? A being whose survival is incompatible with the existing order.
With the advent of science, ideas about monsters were quickly put aside, as people began to believe only what they could see with their own eyes.
62. Distance is a great producer of admiration.
When we are away from our loved ones, their memory will be much brighter and perfect for For us, the longing to see them again can become authentic torture for any person.
63. It seems to me that if one had kept silent until now regarding religion, people would still be plunged into the most grotesque and dangerous superstition... Regarding the government, we would still be groaning under the bonds of the feudal government... Regarding morality, we would still have to learn what is virtue and what is vice. To prohibit all these discussions, the only ones worthy of occupying a good mind, is to perpetuate the reign of ignorance and barbarism.
Diderot knew very well that French society was fully capable of changing its ideas and organization, something that, as we can see, would end up happening over the years.
64. Trying to destroy our passions is the height of madness. What a noble goal is that of the fanatic who tortures himself like mad to want nothing, love nothing, feel nothing and who, if he succeeded, would end up a complete monster!
As human beings, we all have desires and dreams to fulfill, otherwise we would simply not be complete people.
65. Superstition is more harmful to God than atheism.
Many people tend to end up believing in really crazy ideas, the salesmen are individuals who know very well how to make money with the stupidity of people.
66. Fanaticism is only one step away from barbarism.
From religious extremism to absolute barbarism, there is certainly a very fine dividing line. We must never become fanatics of a certain idea.
67. If there are a hundred thousand damned souls for one saved soul, the devil always has the advantage without having let his son die.
As Diderot rightly says in this quote, the devil always seems to have a clear advantage in his divine battle against God. Who will be the victor of said confrontation is something that none of us really know.
68. Man was born to live with his fellow men. Separate him, isolate him, his character will go bad, a thousand ridiculous affections will invade his heart, extravagant thoughts will germinate in his brain, like thorns in uncultivated land.
The human being is not designed to live permanently in solitude, numerous studies of all time have attested to this.
69. Only passions and great passions can elevate the soul to great things. Without them there is no sublimity, neither in morality nor in creativity. Art returns to childhood and virtue becomes petty.
Only by dedicating ourselves to our greatest passions will we be able to become great professionals.
70. Bad company is as instructive as debauchery. One compensates for the loss of innocence with the loss of prejudice.
Learning from the mistakes of others can be very beneficial for any of us. Having a clear model of how we should not do things can be something that greatly simplifies our lives.
