262 Quotes by Denis Diderot

The fact is that she was terribly undressed and I was extremely undressed too. The fact is that I still had my hand where she didn’t have anything and she had hers where the same wasn’t quite true of me. The fact is that I found myself underneath her and consequently she found herself on top of me.

Does anyone really know where they’re going to?

The bad gives rise to the good, the good inspires the better, the better produces the excellent, the excellent is followed by the bizarre.

Master, master, you obviously haven’t thought about this at all. We only ever feel sorry for ourselves, believe me.

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.

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

There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination.

There is no better role to play among the great than that of jester.

The world is the house of the strong. I shall not know until the end what I have lost or won in this place, in this vast gambling den where I have spent more than sixty years, dicebox in hand, shaking the dice.