Gaiety - a quality of ordinary men. Genius always presupposes some disorder in the machine.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Diderot contrasts ordinary cheerfulness with genius, suggesting great minds often come with mental or emotional instability.
- In plain terms
- Normal people are happy, but geniuses are often troubled.
- What can you take from it?
- Great talent often comes with personal struggles.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Must creativity come at a cost?
- Can you be happy and a genius?
Another view
It stereotypes all geniuses as mentally unstable.
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