Denis Diderot

"The more we accumulate, the more we desire."

"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire; you will what you imagine; and at last you create what you will."

"What is the good of having great power if you are not going to use it?"

"Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet."

"There is nothing which cannot be changed by work and application."

"The human spirit sublimates the impulses which nature has implanted in it."

"Without freedom, no art; art lives only on the restraints it imposes on itself, and dies of all others."

"It may be said that the prime condition of freedom is the abolition of dogmatism."

"An action committed in anger is an action premeditated in darkness."

"He must be unmindful of his duty, who waits for the crowd to applaud before he approves himself."

"It is not the oath that makes us believe the man but the man who makes us believe the oath."

"I love humanity, but I hate humans."

"The passion for truth is the characteristic of the man of the world, but not always of the philosopher."

"The man who has many friends has none."

"If you write for God you will reach many men and bring them joy."

"We gain the strength of the tempter when we cease to fear him."

"The greatest happiness is to transform one's feelings into action."

"Disturbance of the peace should be the last weapon of wisdom."

"History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up."

"The terrible thing is that everyone has his reasons."

"One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny."

"All sensible talk must be about sensible things."

"I love my country more than my king."

"If nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open."

"The human condition is defined by change."

"We swallow greedily any poison that is offered us if it is served on a bed of faith."

"Writing is the painting of the voice."

"Knowledge without imagination is sterile."

"Our children will blame us for all the harm we have not prevented."

"The object of conversation is to please and to instruct."