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

(In this quote we see diderot's distaste for the church and his disgust with their actions. Diderot is reffering to the opressive and ignorant nature of the church that causes philosophers and intellectuals to have to recant unorthodox ideas. If this did not happen they would quite litteraly meet death. This powerful and reflective quote gives you a great perspective on why so many people moved towards reason and science as opposed to the clouded judgement of the roman catholic church.)

 

- "We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter."

(In this quote much like Volatire, Diderot reffers to the complacency of man kind during various periods of history. He is in essence trying to say that we deeply accept anything that makes us as a whole look more righteous and glorious even if it is not true, but when we must learn truths about ourselves that are degrading we end up refuting them. This is said during a time when europe was at the helm of slavery a practice that nobody wished to admit was horiffic.) 

 

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

(At this time humanity has generally just moved away from two major powers, absolute monarchy and the church. Diderot had very radical views on religion and religious administration which is characterized in this striking quote. Not only is Diderot saying we cant live in harmony while a priest and a king still lives but he is also saying they must suffer in death. This sentence is so interesting precisely because you can see exactly how disgusted he was by these two powers, so much so he believed they should be strangled with their own guts.)

 

- "Every man has his dignity. I'm willing to forget mine, but at my own discretion and not when someone else tells me to." (Here we see Diderot's truly humanistic side, his ability to understand the importance of free will and his admiration of the freedom amongst all beings regardless of creed or race. This mentality is what founded constituational monarchies and gave power to democracies. This is one of the reasons Diderot is considered so interesting for he is truly selfless and infact dedicates his life to the improvement of man kind at his own expense. Diderot unlike many fellow philosophers who proffessed the same ideals actually enacted these ideas and truly followed them to his death.) 

 

- "From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step."

(Again we see the affect Diderot's mishaps with the church had on him. In this quote while he is reffering to any general situation he is still subliminaly talking about the catholic church. In-fact in his writing he reffers to the church as a fanatical movement that commited barbaric acts in order to gain power and popularity. This quote is actually a rule we can apply in many situations, not to mention the attrocities commited during WW2 that were fueled by National Socialist fanaticism.)

 

 - Denis Diderot (1713-1784)

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