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The general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action.

Denis Diderot

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Denis Diderot
Age: 70 †
Born: 1713
Born: October 5
Died: 1784
Died: July 31
Abbé
Art Critic
Art Theorist
Correspondent
Encyclopédistes
Essayist
Historian
Lexicographer
Literary Critic
Literary Theorist
Lumières
Diderot
Freedom
Action
Masses
Place
Insight
Might
Allowed
Take
Mass
General
Genius
Interest

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Scepticism is the first step towards truth.
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A thing is not proved because no one has ever questioned it... Skepticism is the first step toward truth.
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How easy it is to tell tales!
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The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.
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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.
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Evil always turns up in this world through some genius or other.
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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.
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Those who fear the facts will forever try to discredit the fact-finders.
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To prove the Gospels by a miracle is to prove an absurdity by something contrary to nature.
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Every man has his dignity. I'm willing to forget mine, but at my own discretion and not when someone else tells me to.
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No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings.
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There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.
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There is less harm to be suffered in being mad among madmen than in being sane all by oneself.
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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.
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All things must be examined, debated, investigated without exception and without regard for anyone's feelings.
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Time, matter, space - all, it may be, are no more than a point.
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A nation which thinks that it is belief in God and not good law which makes people honest does not seem to me very advanced.
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And his hands would plait the priest's entrails, For want of a rope, to strangle kings.
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What is a monster? A being whose survival is incompatible with the existing order.
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The Christian religion teaches us to imitate a God that is cruel, insidious, jealous, and implacable in his wrath.
Denis Diderot