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 Quote

Disturbances in society are never more fearful than when those who are stirring up the trouble can use the pretext of religion to mask their true designs.
- Denis Diderot Quote

Every man has his dignity. I'm willing to forget mine, but at my own discretion and not when someone else tells me to.
- Denis Diderot Quote

Evil always turns up in this world through some genius or other.
- Denis Diderot Quote

From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.
- Denis Diderot Quote

Gaiety is a quality of ordinary men. Genius always presupposes some disorder in the machine.
- Denis Diderot Quote

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 Quote

Good music is very close to primitive language.
- Denis Diderot Quote

Gratitude is a burden, and every burden is made to be shaken off.
- Denis Diderot Quote

If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him.
- Denis Diderot Quote

In order to shake a hypothesis, it is sometimes not necessary to do anything more than push it as far as it will go.
- Denis Diderot Quote

It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all.
- Denis Diderot Quote

Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.
- Denis Diderot Quote

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.
- Denis Diderot Quote

Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government; they are not African or Asian or European: they are good or bad.
- Denis Diderot Quote

One declaims endlessly against the passions; one imputes all of man's suffering to them. One forgets that they are also the source of all his pleasures.
- Denis Diderot Quote

Only a very bad theologian would confuse the certainty that follows revelation with the truths that are revealed. They are entirely different things.
- Denis Diderot Quote

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 Quote

People praise virtue, but they hate it, they run away from it. It freezes you to death, and in this world you've got to keep your feet warm.
- Denis Diderot Quote

Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory.
- Denis Diderot Quote

Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of those who obey.
- Denis Diderot Quote

Sentences are like sharp nails, which force truth upon our memories.
- Denis Diderot Quote

The blood of Jesus Christ can cover a multitude of sins, it seems to me.
- Denis Diderot Quote

The decisions of law courts should never be printed: in the long run, they form a counter authority to the law.
- Denis Diderot Quote

The first step towards philosophy is incredulity.
- Denis Diderot Quote

The God of the Christians is a father who makes much of his apples, and very little of his children.
- Denis Diderot Quote

The infant runs toward it with its eyes closed, the adult is stationary, the old man approaches it with his back turned.
- Denis Diderot Quote

The possibility of divorce renders both marriage partners stricter in their observance of the duties they owe to each other. Divorces help to improve morals and to increase the population.
- Denis Diderot Quote

There are things I can't force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.
- Denis Diderot Quote

There is no kind of harassment that a man may not inflict on a woman with impunity in civilized societies.
- Denis Diderot Quote

There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.
- Denis Diderot Quote

There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.
- Denis Diderot Quote

To attempt the destruction of our passions is the height of folly. What a noble aim is that of the zealot who tortures himself like a madman in order to desire nothing, love nothing, feel nothing, and who, if he succeeded, would end up a complete monster!
- Denis Diderot Quote

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 Quote

We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates.
- Denis Diderot Quote

When science, art, literature, and philosophy are simply the manifestation of personality they are on a level where glorious and dazzling achievements are possible, which can make a man's name live for thousands of years.
- Denis Diderot Quote

You have to make it happen.
- Denis Diderot Quote