Denis Diderot Quotes

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In order to shake a hypothesis, it is sometimes not necessary to do anything more than push it as far as it will go.

By Denis Diderot
The following general definition of an animal: a system of different organic molecules that have combined with one another, under the impulsion of a sensation similar to an obtuse and muffled sense of touch given to them by the creator of matter as a whole, until each one of them has found the most suitable position for its shape and comfort.

By Denis Diderot
Distance is a great promoter of admiration!

By Denis Diderot
What has not been examined impartially has not been well examined. Skepticism is therefore the first step toward truth.

By Denis Diderot
We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip little by little at a truth we find bitter.

By Denis Diderot
Virtue is praised but hated. People run away from it, for it is ice-cold and in this world you must keep your feet warm.

By Denis Diderot
There is no moral precept that does not have something inconvenient about it.

By Denis Diderot
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.

By Denis Diderot
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.

By Denis Diderot
Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common.

By Denis Diderot
Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined; and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common.

By Denis Diderot
Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.

By Denis Diderot
I can be expected to look for truth but not to find it.

By Denis Diderot
Genius is present in every age, but the men carrying it within them remain benumbed unless extraordinary events occur to heat up and melt the mass so that it flows forth.

By Denis Diderot
Fanaticism is just one step away from barbarism.

By Denis Diderot
All children are essentially criminal.

By Denis Diderot
A thing is not proved just because no one has ever questioned it. What has never been gone into impartially has never been properly gone into. Hence scepticism is the first step toward truth. It must be applied generally, because it is the touchstone.

By Denis Diderot
Evil always turns up in this world through some genius or other.

By Denis Diderot