Quotes by Diderot, Denis

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

We swallow with one gulp the lie that flatters us, and drink drop by d >>

It is not human nature we should accuse but the despicable conventions >>

Quotations about Knowledge

Knowledge is proud that it knows so much; Wisdom is humble that it kno >>

Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice. Better than knowl >>

The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it. >>

There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge available to us: observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination. 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.

Diderot, Denis