Denis Diderot - aphorisms, catchphrases, phrases, sayings, sayings, quotes, thoughts

Diderot

Home ~ Literature ~ Aphorisms ~ Search by author ~ Diderot Denis Diderot was born on October 5, 1713, in the city of Longray, France. French writer, educational philosopher and playwright, who founded the “Encyclopedia, or explanatory dictionary of sciences, arts and crafts.” He died on July 31, 1784 in the city of Paris.

There are two kinds of laws: one is of unconditional justice and universal significance, while the other is absurd, owing its recognition only to the blindness of people or the force of circumstances. Those who are guilty of violating them, they cover with only fleeting dishonor - a dishonor that falls over time on judges and nations, and falls forever. Who is now disgraced - Socrates or the judge who forced him to drink hemlock?

Author:

Diderot (Law)

Either God allowed it, or the universal mechanism called fate wanted us to be exposed to all sorts of accidents throughout our lives; if you are wise and a better father than me, you will convince your son from a young age that he is the master of his life, so that he does not complain about you, who gave him life.

Author:

Diderot

If some phenomenon exceeds, in our opinion, the strength of man, then we immediately say: this is the work of God; our vanity cannot be satisfied with less. Wouldn't it be better if we put a little less pride and a little more philosophy into our reasoning?

Author:

Diderot

If reason is a gift from heaven, and if the same can be said about faith, then heaven has sent down to us two gifts that are incompatible and contradict each other. To eliminate this difficulty, we must admit that faith is a chimerical principle that does not exist in nature.

Author:

Diderot

Man is created to live in society; separate him from him, isolate him - his thoughts will become confused, his character will harden, hundreds of absurd passions will arise in his soul, extravagant ideas will sprout in his brain like wild thorns in a wasteland.

Author:

Diderot (Society)

If you are afraid of death, you will not do anything good; If you still die because of some stone in the bladder, from an attack of gout, or for some other equally absurd reason, then it is better to die for some great cause.

Author:

Diderot

While a lie may be useful for a short period of time, over time it inevitably turns out to be harmful. On the contrary, the truth turns out to be useful over time, although it may happen that now it will cause harm.

Author:

Diderot

Where else, if not in marriage, can one observe examples of pure affection, genuine love, deep trust, constant support, mutual satisfaction, shared sadness, understood sighs, shed tears together?

Author:

Diderot (Marriage)

People would live quite calmly in this world if they were quite sure that they had nothing to fear in the other; The thought that there is no God has not yet frightened anyone, but how many have been horrified by the thought that there exists such a God as they portray to me.

Author:

Diderot

One can detect constancy in cowardice and feeble-mindedness; but firmness can only reveal a character distinguished by strength, sublimity, and intelligence. Frivolity, pliability and weakness are the opposite of hardness.

Author:

Diderot

Knowing how things should be characterizes an intelligent person; knowledge of how things really are characterizes an experienced person; knowing how to change them for the better characterizes a person of genius.

Author:

Diderot

People who are outstanding for their talents should spend their time in such a way as is required by respect for themselves and posterity. What would posterity think of us if we left nothing for them?

Author:

Diderot

Every work of sculpture or painting must express some great rule of life, must teach, otherwise it will be dumb.

Author:

Diderot (Art)

When men treat a woman with disrespect, it almost always shows that she was the first to forget in her treatment of them.

Author:

Diderot

There is moral tactfulness, which in a humane person is reflected in all his actions and which an evil person does not have.

Author:

Diderot (Morality)

An intelligent person sees before him an immeasurable realm of the possible, but a fool considers only what is possible to be possible.

Author:

Diderot()

I do not know a profession that would require more refined forms and purer morals than the theater.

Author:

Diderot

Truth loves criticism, it only benefits from it; lies are afraid of criticism, because they lose from it.

Author:

Diderot (Critique)

If you don't have a goal, you don't do anything, and you don't do anything great if the goal is insignificant.

Author:

Diderot

Oh, what a wonderful comedy this world would be if we didn’t have a role in it.

Author:

Diderot

If everything on earth were excellent, then there would be nothing excellent.

Author:

Diderot

Love often takes away intelligence from those who have it and gives it to those who do not.

Author:

Diderot

The monastery is a dungeon where those whom society has thrown overboard are thrown.

Author:

Diderot (Society)

Miracles are where people believe in them, and the more they believe, the more often they happen.

Author:

Diderot

The greatest author is the one who leaves as little as possible to the actor's imagination.

Author:

Diderot (Literature)

Breadth of mind, power of imagination and activity of the soul - this is what genius is.

Author:

Diderot (Genius)

Women drink flattering lies in one sip, and bitter truths in drops.

Author:

Diderot (Woman)

What is truth? The correspondence of our judgments to the creatures of nature.

Author:

Diderot

Sincerity is the mother of truth and the sign of an honest person.

Author:

Diderot (Honesty)

People stop thinking when they stop reading.

Author:

Diderot (People)

Denis Diderot was born on October 5, 1713, in the city of Longray, France. French writer, educational philosopher and playwright, who founded the “Encyclopedia, or explanatory dictionary of sciences, arts and crafts.” He died on July 31, 1784 in the city of Paris.

Aphorisms, quotes, sayings, phrases by Denis Diderot

People's lives are full of worries.
It's better to wear out than to rust.
People stop thinking when they stop reading.
Sincerity is the mother of truth and the sign of an honest person.
What is truth? The correspondence of our judgments to the creatures of nature.
Women drink flattering lies in one sip, and bitter truths in drops.
Breadth of mind, power of imagination and activity of the soul - this is what genius is.
The greatest author is the one who leaves as little as possible to the actor's imagination.
Miracles are where people believe in them, and the more they believe, the more often they happen.
Miracles are where people believe in them, and the more they believe, the more often they happen.
The monastery is a dungeon where those whom society has thrown overboard are thrown.
Love often takes away intelligence from those who have it and gives it to those who do not.
If everything on earth were excellent, then there would be nothing excellent.
Oh, what a wonderful comedy this world would be if we didn’t have a role in it.
If you don't have a goal, you don't do anything, and you don't do anything great if the goal is insignificant.
There are many pages in the history of any nation that would be magnificent if they were true.
Truth loves criticism, it only benefits from it; lies are afraid of criticism, because they lose from it.
I do not know a profession that would require more refined forms and purer morals than the theater.
An intelligent person sees before him an immeasurable realm of the possible, but a fool considers only what is possible to be possible.
There is moral tactfulness, which in a humane person is reflected in all his actions and which an evil person does not have.
A man was once asked whether there are real atheists. Do you think, he replied, that there are real Christians?
When men treat a woman with disrespect, it almost always shows that she was the first to forget in her treatment of them.
Every work of sculpture or painting must express some great rule of life, must teach, otherwise it will be dumb.
People who are outstanding for their talents should spend their time in such a way as is required by respect for themselves and posterity. What would posterity think of us if we left nothing for them?
Knowing how things should be characterizes an intelligent person; knowledge of how things really are characterizes an experienced person; knowing how to change them for the better characterizes a person of genius.
One can detect constancy in cowardice and feeble-mindedness; but firmness can only reveal a character distinguished by strength, sublimity, and intelligence. Frivolity, pliability and weakness are the opposite of hardness.
People would live quite calmly in this world if they were quite sure that they had nothing to fear in the other; The thought that there is no God has not yet frightened anyone, but how many have been horrified by the thought that there exists such a God as they portray to me.
Where else, if not in marriage, can one observe examples of pure affection, genuine love, deep trust, constant support, mutual satisfaction, shared sadness, understood sighs, shed tears together?
While a lie may be useful for a short period of time, over time it inevitably turns out to be harmful. On the contrary, the truth turns out to be useful over time, although it may happen that now it will cause harm.
If you are afraid of death, you will not do anything good; If you still die because of some stone in the bladder, from an attack of gout, or for some other equally absurd reason, then it is better to die for some great cause.
Man is created to live in society; separate him from him, isolate him - his thoughts will become confused, his character will harden, hundreds of absurd passions will arise in his soul, extravagant ideas will sprout in his brain like wild thorns in a wasteland.
If reason is a gift from heaven, and if the same can be said about faith, then heaven has sent down to us two gifts that are incompatible and contradict each other. To eliminate this difficulty, we must admit that faith is a chimerical principle that does not exist in nature.
If some phenomenon exceeds, in our opinion, the strength of man, then we immediately say: this is the work of God; our vanity cannot be satisfied with less. Wouldn't it be better if we put a little less pride and a little more philosophy into our reasoning?
Either God allowed it, or the universal mechanism called fate wanted us to be exposed to all sorts of accidents throughout our lives; if you are wise and a better father than me, you will convince your son from a young age that he is the master of his life, so that he does not complain about you, who gave him life.
There are two kinds of laws: one is of unconditional justice and universal significance, while the other is absurd, owing its recognition only to the blindness of people or the force of circumstances. Those who are guilty of violating them, they cover with only fleeting dishonor - a dishonor that falls over time on judges and nations, and falls forever. Who is now disgraced - Socrates or the judge who forced him to drink hemlock?

Denis Diderot. Quotes

Breadth of mind, power of imagination and activity of the soul - this is what genius is.

Deep thoughts are iron nails driven into the mind so that nothing can pull them out.

An intelligent person sees before him an immeasurable realm of the possible, but a fool considers only what is possible to be possible.

Misconceptions, sanctified by the genius of great masters, become generally accepted truths over time.

Geniuses are the pride of the nations to which they belong; sooner or later statues are erected to them, and they are seen as benefactors of the human race.

Even if we agree that people of genius are usually strange, or, as they say, there is no great mind without a bit of madness, we will not renounce them; we will despise those centuries that have not created a single genius.

I imagine the vast sphere of science as a wide field, some parts of which are dark, while others are illuminated.

What is truth? The correspondence of our judgments to the creatures of nature.

If reason is a gift from heaven, and if the same can be said about faith, then heaven has sent down to us two gifts that are incompatible and contradict each other.

If nature presents us with some kind of riddle, some difficult knot to unravel, then let us leave it as it is, and will not try to cut it with the hand of a creature, which becomes for us a new knot, even more difficult to unravel than the first.

Don't indulge in explanations if you want to be understood.

Gratitude is a burden, and every burden is created to be cast off.

Religion prevents people from seeing because it forbids them to look under pain of eternal punishment.

In no era and in no nation have religious opinions served as the basis for national morals. The gods worshiped by the ancient Greeks and Romans, the most honest people on earth, were the most unbridled scoundrels.

Flip through the history of all the peoples of the earth: everywhere religion turns innocence into crime, and declares crime innocent.

Philosophers say a lot of bad things about clergy, clergy say a lot of bad things about philosophers; but philosophers never killed clergy, and the clergy killed many philosophers.

There is no corner of the world where differences in religious views do not water the earth with blood.

He who remains faithful to his religion only because he was brought up in it has as much reason to be proud of his Christianity or Islam as of not being born blind or lame. This is happiness, not merit.

Wherever God is recognized, there is a cult, and where there is a cult, the natural order of moral duty is violated, and morality declines.

Do they believe in God because of some benefit? - Don't know; but considerations of profit do not in the least harm the affairs of either this or the other world.

The people who think that it is faith, and not good laws, that makes people honest seems to me very backward.

There is always a reckoning in this world. There are two attorneys general: one is the one who stands at your door and punishes offenses against society, the other is nature itself. She knows all the vices that elude the laws.

Man is created to live in society; separate him from him, isolate him - and his thoughts will become confused, his character will harden, hundreds of absurd passions will arise in his soul, extravagant ideas will sprout in his brain like wild thorns in a wasteland.

To say that a person consists of strength and weakness, of understanding and blindness, of insignificance and greatness, does not mean to condemn him, but to define his essence.

There is only one virtue - justice, one duty - to become happy, one conclusion - not to exaggerate the value of life and not to be afraid of death.

Only passions and only great passions can lift the soul to great deeds. Without them, there is an end to everything sublime both in moral life and in creativity.

Passions are endlessly condemned, all human misfortunes are attributed to them, and at the same time they forget that they are also the source of all our joys.

Do we have the power to fall in love or not to fall in love? And is it that, having fallen in love, we have the power to act as if this had not happened?

Love often takes away intelligence from those who have it and gives it to those who do not.

Where else, if not in marriage, can one observe examples of pure affection, genuine love, deep trust, constant support, mutual satisfaction, shared sadness, understood sighs, shed tears together?

We seek the love of others in order to have an extra reason to love ourselves.

The happiest person is the one who gives happiness to the greatest number of people.

If everything on earth were excellent, then there would be nothing excellent.

Oh, what a wonderful comedy this world would be if we didn’t have our part in it!

Imagination! Without this quality one cannot be a poet, a philosopher, an intelligent person, a thinking being, or just a person.

Everything that is usual is simple; but not everything that is simple is ordinary. Originality does not exclude simplicity.

Quotes from other philosophers can be found here and here.