I have only a small flickering light to guide me in the darkness of a thick forest. Up comes a theologian and blows it out.
Denis DiderotA nation which thinks that it is belief in God and not good law which makes people honest does not seem to me very advanced.
Denis DiderotInstinct 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 DiderotBut if you will recall the history of our civil troubles, you will see half the nation bathe itself, out of piety, in the blood of the other half, and violate the fundamental feelings of humanity in order to sustain the cause of God: as though it were necessary to cease to be a man in order to prove oneself religious!
Denis DiderotWhat has not been examined impartially has not been well examined. Skepticism is therefore the first step towards truth.
Denis DiderotI am more affected by the attractions of virtue than by the deformities of vice; I turn gently away from the wicked and I fly to meet the good. If there is in a literary work, in a character, in a picture, in a statue, a beautiful spot, that is where my eyes rest; I see only that, I remember only that, all the rest is well-nigh forgotten. What becomes of me when the whole work is beautiful!
Denis Diderot