“ 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 ligh… Denis Diderot
“ If there is one realm in which it is essential to be sublime, it is in wickedness. You spit on a petty thief, but you can't deny a kind of respect for the great criminal. Denis Diderot
“ Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it. Denis Diderot
“ Do you see this egg? With this you can topple every theological theory, every church or temple in the world. Denis Diderot
“ When superstition is allowed to perform the task of old age in dulling the human temperament, we can say goodbye to all excellence in poetry, in painting, and in music. Denis Diderot
“ 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. Denis Diderot
“ There are things I can't force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint. Denis Diderot
“ One cannot get rid of a good education, nor, unfortunately, of a bad one, which often is such because one has not wanted to defray the expenses of a good one. Denis Diderot
“ 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. Denis Diderot
“ 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. Denis Diderot
“ Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government they are not African or Asian or European: they are good or bad. Denis Diderot
“ It is not human nature we should accuse but the despicable conventions that pervert it. Denis Diderot
“ Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. Denis Diderot
“ 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. Denis Diderot
“ As I listened to him describing the scene of the procurer seducing the young girl, I found myself torn between two conflicting emotions, between a powerful desire to laugh and an overwhelming surge of… Denis Diderot
