Quote #55
Every man has his dignity. I'm willing to forget mine, but at my own discretion and not when someone else tells me to.
More from Denis Diderot
- Shakespeare's fault is not the greatest into which a poet may fall. It merely indicates a deficiency of taste.
- If there is one realm in which it is essential to be sublime, it is in wickedness. You spit on a petty thief, but you can't deny a kind of …
- When shall we see poets born? After a time of disasters and great misfortunes, when harrowed nations begin to breathe again. And then, shak…
- Bad company is as instructive as licentiousness. One makes up for the loss of one's innocence with the loss of one's prejudices.
- Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild.
- 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.
- It is not human nature we should accuse but the despicable conventions that pervert it.
- I discuss with myself questions of politics, love, taste, or philosophy. I let my mind rove wantonly, give it free rein to follow any idea,…