“All things must be examined, debated, investigated without exception and without regard for anyone's feelings.”
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Denis Diderot 106
French Enlightenment philosopher and encyclopædist 1713–1784Related quotes
Letter to K.S. Barantsevich (March 30, 1888)
Letters
“Tis the hardest thing in the world to be a good Thinker, without being a strong Self-Examiner.”
Vol. 1, p. 92; "Soliloquy: or Advice to an Author".
Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711)
Draft for a Statement of Human Obligation (1943)
Context: It is impossible to feel equal respect for things that are in fact unequal unless the respect is given to something that is identical in all of them. Men are unequal in all their relations with the things of this world, without exception. The only thing that is identical in all men is the presence of a link with the reality outside the world.
All human beings are absolutely identical in so far as they can be thought of as consisting of a centre, which is an unquenchable desire for good, surrounded by an accretion of psychical and bodily matter.
1961, Address to ANPA
Context: Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed — and no republic can survive. That is why the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy. And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment — the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution- -not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply "give the public what it wants" — but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion.
This means greater coverage and analysis of international news — for it is no longer far away and foreign but close at hand and local. It means greater attention to improved understanding of the news as well as improved transmission. And it means, finally, that government at all levels, must meet its obligation to provide you with the fullest possible information outside the narrowest limits of national security — and we intend to do it.