94 quotes
There's a bit of testicle at the bottom of our most sublime feelings and our purest tenderness.
All our virtues depend on the faculty of the senses, and on the degree to which external things affect us.
Lettre sur les aveugles [Letter on the Blind (1749)
There is no kind of harassment that a man may not inflict on a woman with impunity in civilized societies.
On Women (1772)
And his hands would plait the priest's entrails,
For want of a rope, to strangle kings.
There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge available to us: observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation.
On the Interpretation of Nature (1753)
The God of the Christians is a father who makes much of his apples, and very little of his children.
Pensées Philosophiques (1746)
Patriotism is an ephemeral motive that scarcely ever outlasts the particular threat to society that aroused it.
Observations on the Drawing Up of Laws (1774)
The infant runs toward it with its eyes closed, the adult is stationary, the old man approaches it with his back turned.
Elements of Physiology (1875)
All abstract sciences are nothing but the study of relations between signs.
D’Alembert’s Dream (1769)
There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.
Elements of Physiology (1875)
Good music is very close to primitive language.
Elements of Physiology (1875)
When one compares the talents one has with those of a Leibniz, one is tempted to throw away one's books and go die quietly in the dark of some forgotten corner.
You judge of the continuous existence of the world, as an ephemeral insect might judge of yours. The world is eternal for you, as you are.
There are things I can't force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.
Genius is present in every age, but the men carrying it within them remain benumbed unless extraordinary events occur to heat up and melt the mass so that it flows forth.
On Dramatic Poetry (1758)
Jacques said that his master said that everything good or evil we encounter here below was written on high.
Jacques le Fataliste (1796)
The sciences may be more ancient in India than in Egypt.
The best doctor is the one you run for and can't find.
Distance is a great promoter of admiration!
Scepticism is the first step towards truth.
Pensées Philosophiques (1746)