Memorable Quotations from Denis Diderot

Denis Diderot (1713–84) was a French encyclopedist and materialist philosopher. He was extremely influential in motivating the rationalist thought of the 18th century. His lifework, the Encyclopédie, for which he recruited the leading French talents of the time, exemplified the spirit of the Enlightenment. Also a novelist, satirist, and playwright, he produced The Father of the Family (1758) the first “bourgeois drama.” He wrote many philosophical works and in his Salons pioneered in modern art criticism. In his later years, he appreciated the patronage of Catherine II of Russia.