EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE MAGAZINE Early American Literature Magazine exam | Page 19

Denis Diderot
(Langres, October 5, 1713-Paris, July 31, 1784) was a decisive figure of the
Enlightenment as a French writer, philosopher, and encyclopedist.
Pensées sur l'interprétation de la nature (1753), a book that opens
with this irony:
“Young man drinks and reads. If you can get to the end of this book,
it will not be difficult for you to understand a better one. Since I have
set out not so much to instruct you as to exercise you, it matters little
to me that you admit my ideas or that you reject them, as long as they
occupy all your attention. Someone more capable will teach you to
know the forces of nature; It will be enough for me to have put yours
to the test. Goodbye.” Denis Diderot
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