Denis Diderot Quotes About Literature
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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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The blood of Jesus Christ can cover a multitude of sins, it seems to me.
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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.
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There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.
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Good music is very close to primitive language.
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The decisions of law courts should never be printed: in the long run, they form a counter authority to the law.
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You have to make it happen.
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There is no kind of harassment that a man may not inflict on a woman with impunity in civilized societies.
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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.
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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.
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Scepticism is the first step toward truth.
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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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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.
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If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him.
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Gaiety is a quality of ordinary men. Genius always presupposes some disorder in the machine.
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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.
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Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.
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It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all.
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The God of the Christians is a father who makes much of his apples, and very little of his children.
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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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The infant runs toward it with its eyes closed, the adult is stationary, the old man approaches it with his back turned.
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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.
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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.
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Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory.
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We are constantly railing against the passions; we ascribe to them all of man's afflictions, and we forget that they are also the source of all his pleasures.
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In order to shake a hypothesis, it is sometimes not necessary to do anything more than push it as far as it will go.
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