Denis Diderot Quotes

Bad company is as instructive as licentiousness. One makes up for the loss of one’s innocence with the loss of one’s prejudices.

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.

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

How easy it is to tell tales!

Nie lubię mówić o żyjących; zawsze się człowiek musi rumienić za to, co o nich powie dobrego czy złego: dobrego, które popsują, złego, które naprawią.

To rot under marble or to rot under earth is still to rot.

Ce qu’on n’a jamais mis en question n’a point été prouvé.

What does one say to somebody who says: ‘Whatever the sum total of the elements I am composed of I am still one entity. Now one cause has only one effect. I have always been one single cause and I have therefore only ever had one effect to produce. My existence in time is therefore nothing more than a series of necessary effects’?

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

Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.

One cannot get rid of a good education, nor, unfortunately, of a bad one, which often is such because one has not wanted to defray the expenses of a good one.

Najsretniji je onaj čovjek koji je učinio sretnima najviše ljudi.

And his hands would plait the priest's entrails, For want of a rope, to strangle kings.

إيه لو كنتُ أُجيد الكلام مثلما أجيد التفكير! لكنه كان مكتوباً فوق أن تكون الأشياء في رأسي ، وأن لا تأتي الكلمات.

Nie wiem, co to zasady, chyba że tak nazywamy prawidła, które przypisuje się innym, a nie sobie. Myślę tak, a nie umiałbym się powstrzymać od czynienia inaczej.