Denis Diderot Quotes on Human nature
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It has been said that love robs those who have it of their wit, and gives it to those who have none.
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Man was born to live with his fellow human beings. Separate him, isolate him, his character will go bad, a thousand ridiculous affects will invade his heart, extravagant thoughts will germinate in his brain, like thorns in an uncultivated land.
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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.
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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!
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We are constantly railing against the passions; we ascribe to them all of man's afflictions, and we forget that they are also the source of all his pleasures.
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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.
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The pit of a theatre is the one place where the tears of virtuous and wicked men alike are mingled.
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It is not human nature we should accuse but the despicable conventions that pervert it.
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Gratitude is a burden, and every burden is made to be shaken off.
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There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.