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Anyone who takes it upon himself, on his private authority, to break a bad law, thereby authorizes everyone else to break the good ones.

Denis Diderot

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Denis Diderot
Age: 70 †
Born: 1713
Born: October 5
Died: 1784
Died: July 31
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Diderot
Anyone
Authorizes
Upon
Thereby
Everyone
Private
Else
Authority
Good
Ones
Takes
Break
Law

More quotes by Denis Diderot

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The world is the house of the strong.
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The blood of Jesus Christ can cover a multitude of sins, it seems to me.
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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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The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.
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We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates.
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My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.
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Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government they are not African or Asian or European: they are good or bad.
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First of all move me, surprise me, rend my heart make me tremble, weep, shudder outrage me delight my eyes afterwards if you can.
Denis Diderot
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Superstition is more injurious to God than atheism.
Denis Diderot
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In general, children, like men, and men, like children, prefer entertainment to education.
Denis Diderot
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To prove the Gospels by a miracle is to prove an absurdity by something contrary to nature.
Denis Diderot
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The arbitrary rule of a just and enlightened prince is always bad. His virtues are the most dangerous and the surest form of seduction: they lull a people imperceptibly into the habit of loving, respecting, and serving his successor, whoever that successor may be, no matter how wicked or stupid.
Denis Diderot
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All things must be examined, debated, investigated without exception and without regard for anyone's feelings... We must run roughshod over all these ancient puerilities, overturn the barriers that reason never erected, give back to the arts and sciences the liberty that is so precious to them.
Denis Diderot
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One may demand of me that I should seek truth, but not that I should find it
Denis Diderot
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Scepticism is the first step towards truth.
Denis Diderot
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Gaiety is a quality of ordinary men. Genius always presupposes some disorder in the machine.
Denis Diderot
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There are cats and cats.
Denis Diderot
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But if you will recall the history of our civil troubles, you will see half the nation bathe itself, out of piety, in the blood of the other half, and violate the fundamental feelings of humanity in order to sustain the cause of God: as though it were necessary to cease to be a man in order to prove oneself religious!
Denis Diderot
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At an early age I sucked up the milk of Homer, Virgil, Horace, Terence, Anacreon, Plato and Euripides, diluted with that of Moses and the prophets.
Denis Diderot
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You can be sure that a painter reveals himself in his work as much as and more than a writer does in his.
Denis Diderot