Denis Diderot and the Encyclopédie

Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was a French philosopher best known for co-founding the Encyclopédie project. The rest of this post is some quotes from Diderot.

1. "This is a work that cannot be completed except by a society of men of letters and skilled workmen, each working separately on his own part, but all bound together solely by their zeal for the best interests of the human race and a feeling of mutual good will." (Encyclopédie, 1751-1766)

2. "Pithy sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory." (Quoted in Dictionary of Thoughts by Tyron Edwards)

3. "As long as the centuries continue to unfold, the number of books will grow continually, and one can predict that a time will come when it will be almost as difficult to learn anything from books as from the direct study of the whole universe. It will be almost as convenient to search for some bit of truth concealed in nature as it will be to find it hidden away in a an immense multitude of bound volumes." (Encyclopédie, 1751-1766)

4. "I picture the vast realm of the sciences as an immense landscape scattered with patches of dark and light. The goal towards which we must work is either to extend the boundaries of the patches of light, or to increase their number. One of these tasks falls to the creative genius; the other requires a sort of sagacity combined with perfectionism." (Thoughts on the Interpretation of Nature, 1754)