Shakespeare's fault is not the greatest into which a poet may fall. It merely indicates a deficiency of taste.
Denis DiderotI have not the hope of being immortal, because the desire of it has not given me that vanity.
Denis DiderotWe swallow with one gulp the lie that flatters us, and drink drop by drop the truth which is bitter to us.
Denis DiderotThe arbitrary rule of a just and enlightened prince is always bad. His virtues are the most dangerous and the surest form of seduction: they lull a people imperceptibly into the habit of loving, respecting, and serving his successor, whoever that successor may be, no matter how wicked or stupid.
Denis DiderotOne must be oneself very little of a philosopher not to feel that the finest privilege of our reason consists in not believing in anything by the impulsion of a blind and mechanical instinct, and that it is to dishonour reason to put it in bonds as the Chaldeans did. Man is born to think for himself.
Denis Diderot