262 Quotes by Denis Diderot

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

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.

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

Time, matter, space - all, it may be, are no more than a point.

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

My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.

Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.

There's a bit of testicle at the bottom of our most sublime feelings and our purest tenderness.

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.