Denis Diderot Quotes

All men are by nature born equally free and independent.

No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others.

The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule.

The nation is formed through the law of nature alone. Government stems from the will of nation. The nation stands before all things and is the source of all things. Its will is always law. Above it and before it is but the law of nature alone. By virtue of its very existence, the nation is all things that it may be. The nation cannot surrender its right to a tyrant.

All men are born free.

The principle of self-government cannot be violated with impunity. The individual's right to it is sacred - regardless of class, caste, race, color, sex or any other accident or incident of birth.

I have one abiding religion-human liberty.

I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies.

No! on Human Rights and Freedom, on a subject that is as self-evident as that two and two make four, there is no need of any written authority.

Power is not something that can be assumed or discarded at will like underwear.

If an individual is born with the obligation to obey, who is born with the right to command?

No man has any natural authority over his fellow men.

Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

All men have an equal right to the free development of their faculties; they have an equal right to the impartial protection of the state; but it is not true, it is against all the laws of reason and equity, it is against the eternal nature of things.

A man is born free.

As precious as life itself is our heritage of individual freedom, for man's free agency is a God-given gift.

I'm a human being I'm not a piece of property. I am not a consignment of goods.

Life is the ultimate right.

I have a natural right to do whatever I want with my body... as long as it doesn't affect anybody else or any other property.

What world is there for us where our essential nature - and its right to live free - is one and the same?

The quest for freedom, dignity, and the rights of man will never end.

Having the right to show up and speak are basic to survival, to dignity, and to liberty.

The common Notions of Liberty are not from School Divines, but from Nature.

Freedom is the right to one's dignity as a man.

If you've experienced having control, you don't want to be moved to a subordinate position, if you have your druthers.