262 Quotes by Denis Diderot

Scepticism is the first step towards truth.

One swallows the lie that flatters, but sips the bitter truth drop by drop.

Whether God exists or does not exist, He has come to rank among the most sublime and useless truths.

ولكنه شيء لا يُصدّق أن تشعري بكل هذا البغض لحالةٍ تؤدّين واجباتها بكل هذه بكل هذه السهولة والدقة

I picture the vast realm of the sciences as an immense landscape scattered with patches of dark and light. The goal towards which we must work is either to extend the boundaries of the patches of light, or to increase their number. One of these tasks falls to the creative genius; the other requires a sort of sagacity combined with perfectionism.

The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and ... people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them on occasion.

Now look, my friend, if you come to think it out you will find that in all things our real opinion is not the one from which we have never wavered, but the one to which we have most regularly returned.

If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him.

It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley; but not at all so to believe or not in God.