94 quotes
The general interest of the masses might take the place of the insight of genius if it were allowed freedom of action.
Observations on the Drawing Up of Laws (1774)
Reason is to the philosopher what grace is to the Christian.
Grace causes the Christian to act, reason the philosopher.
L'Encyclopédie (1751)
Superstition is more injurious to God than atheism.
Pensées Philosophiques (1746)
What is this world of ours? … a fleeting symmetry; a momentary order.
People praise virtue, but they hate it, they run away from it. It freezes you to death, and in this world you've got to keep your feet warm.
Rameau's Nephew (1762)
The blood of Jesus Christ can cover a multitude of sins, it seems to me.
Conversations with a Christian Lady (1774)
The wisest among us is very lucky never to have met the woman, be she beautiful or ugly, intelligent or stupid, who could drive him crazy enough to be fit to be put into an asylum.
Ceci n’est pas un conte [This Is No Tale (1796)
We are all instruments endowed with feeling and memory. Our senses are so many strings that are struck by surrounding objects and that also frequently strike themselves.
D’Alembert’s Dream (1769)
Are we not madder than those first inhabitants of the plain of Sennar? We know that the distance separating the earth from the sky is infinite, and yet we do not stop building our tower.
On the Interpretation of Nature (1753)
We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.
Rameau's Nephew (1762)
Morals are in all countries the result of legislation and government; they are not African or Asian or European: they are good or bad.
Observations on the Drawing Up of Laws (1774)
This is a work that cannot be completed except by a society of men of letters and skilled workmen, each working separately on his own part, but all bound together solely by their zeal for the best interests of the human race and a feeling of mutual good will.
L'Encyclopédie (1751)
There is no good father who would want to resemble our Heavenly Father
Pensées Philosophiques (1746)
Shakespeare’s fault is not the greatest into which a poet may fall. It merely indicates a deficiency of taste.
On Dramatic Poetry (1758)
Bad company is as instructive as licentiousness. One makes up for the loss of one’s innocence with the loss of one’s prejudices.
Rameau's Nephew (1762)
Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of those who obey.
L'Encyclopédie (1751)
The possibility of divorce renders both marriage partners stricter in their observance of the duties they owe to each other. Divorces help to improve morals and to increase the population.
Observations on the Drawing Up of Laws (1774)
To attempt the destruction of our passions is the height of folly. What a noble aim is that of the zealot who tortures himself like a madman in order to desire nothing, love nothing, feel nothing, and who, if he succeeded, would end up a complete monster!
Pensées Philosophiques (1746)
O Posterity! Holy and sacred stay of the unhappy and the oppressed; thou who art just, thou who art incorruptible, thou who findest the good man, who unmaskest the hypocrite, who breakest down the tyrant, may thy sure faith, thy consoling faith never, never abandon me!
The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and … people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them on occasion.
Conversations with a Christian Lady (1774)