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Instinct guides the animal better than the man. In the animal it is pure, in man it is led astray by his reason and intelligence.
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
Intelligence
Pure
Animal
Reason
Better
Men
Astray
Guides
Instinct
More quotes by Denis Diderot
Good music is very close to primitive language.
Denis Diderot
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
The Christian religion teaches us to imitate a God that is cruel, insidious, jealous, and implacable in his wrath.
Denis Diderot
Gratitude is a burden, and every burden is made to be shaken off.
Denis Diderot
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
The wisest among us is very lucky never to have met the woman, be she beautiful or ugly, intelligent or stupid, who could drive him crazy enough to be fit to be put into an asylum.
Denis Diderot
Are we not madder than those first inhabitants of the plain of Sennar? We know that the distance separating the earth from the sky is infinite, and yet we do not stop building our tower.
Denis Diderot
If you disturb the colors of the rainbow, the rainbow is no longer beautiful.
Denis Diderot
He whom we call a gentleman is no longer the man of Nature.
Denis Diderot
I discuss with myself questions of politics, love, taste, or philosophy. I let my mind rove wantonly, give it free rein to followany idea, wise or mad that may present itself. My ideas are my harlots.
Denis Diderot
Do you see this egg? With this you can topple every theological theory, every church or temple in the world.
Denis Diderot
To prove the Gospels by a miracle is to prove an absurdity by something contrary to nature.
Denis Diderot
Two qualities essential for the artist: moralityand perspective.
Denis Diderot
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
There is no good father who would want to resemble our Heavenly Father.
Denis Diderot
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
What has not been examined impartially has not been well examined. Skepticism is therefore the first step towards truth.
Denis Diderot
No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others. Freedom is a gift from heaven, and every individual of the same species has the right to enjoy it as soon as he is in enjoyment of his reason.
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
You risk just as much in being credulous as in being suspicious.
Denis Diderot