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

My ideas are my whores.
Denis Diderot

No man has received from nature the right to command his fellow human beings.
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

Only a very bad theologian would confuse the certainty that follows revelation with the truths that are revealed. They are entirely different things.
Denis Diderot

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

Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.
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

Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory.
Denis Diderot

Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.
Denis Diderot

Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of those who obey.
Denis Diderot

Sentences are like sharp nails, which force truth upon our memories.
Denis Diderot

Skepticism is the first step on the road to philosophy.
Denis Diderot

The best doctor is the one you run to and can't find.
Denis Diderot

The best mannered people make the most absurd lovers.
Denis Diderot

The blood of Jesus Christ can cover a multitude of sins, it seems to me.
Denis Diderot

The decisions of law courts should never be printed: in the long run, they form a counter authority to the law.
Denis Diderot

The first step towards philosophy is incredulity.
Denis Diderot

The general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action.
Denis Diderot