Diderot, Denis

French author, encyclopedist, and philosopher

wrote 35-volume encyclopedia "Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts, et des Metiers" 1751-1776

• "What has not been examined impartially has not been well examined. Skepticism is therefore the first step toward truth."
• "Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined; and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common."
• "Virtue is praised but hated. People run away from it, for it is ice-cold and in this world you must keep your feet warm."
• "Genius is present in every age, but the men carrying it within them remain benumbed unless extraordinary events occur to heat up and melt the mass so that it flows forth."
• "There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge. . . observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination."