Denis Diderot

Happiest are the people who give most happiness to others

There is no good father who would want to resemble our Heavenly Father.

From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.

Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates.

Although a man may wear fine clothing, if he lives peacefully and is good, self-possessed, has faith and is pure and if he does not hurt any living being, he is a holy man.

My ideas are my whores.

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

His hands would plait the priest's guts, if he had no rope, to strangle kings.

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.

The infant runs toward it with its eyes closed, the adult is stationary, the old man approaches it with his back turned.

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

There is no kind of harassment that a man may not inflict on a woman with impunity in civilized societies.

It is said that desire is a product of the will, but the converse is in fact true will is a product of desire.

Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government they are not African or Asian or European they are good or bad.

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers.

See this egg. It is with this that all the schools of theology and all the temples of the earth are to be overturned.

There are things I can't force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.

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.

We swallow with one gulp the lie that flatters us, and drink drop by drop the truth which is bitter to us.

I can be expected to look for truth but not to find it

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

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.

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.

Women swallow at one mouthful the lie that flatters, and drink drop by drop the truth that is bitter