Baron d'Holbach Quotes on Knowledge
Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach, was a German-born French philosopher who became one of the most outspoken atheist and materialist voices of the high Enlightenment. This page collects quotes attributed to Baron d'Holbach on the topic of knowledge, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Baron d'Holbach:
“Theology is but the ignorance of natural causes reduced to a system.”
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Attributed to Baron d'Holbach:
“If we go back to the beginning, we shall always find that ignorance and fear created the gods.”
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Attributed to Baron d'Holbach:
“Man is born neither good nor wicked; education makes him so.”
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“It is thus superstition infatuates man from his infancy, fills him with vanity, and enslaves him with fanaticism.”
Samuel Wilkinson, trans., The System of Nature ( Project Gutenberg e-text ), vol. 1, chap. IX | Date and place of publication unknown. Original publication in French, 1770, as La Système de la nature , under the name of Jean Baptiste de Mirabaud . -
“If the ignorance of nature gave birth to such a variety of gods, the knowledge of this nature is calculated to destroy them.”
Samuel Wilkinson, trans., The System of Nature ( Project Gutenberg e-text ), vol. 2, chap. I | Date and place of publication unknown. Original publication in French, 1770, as La Système de la nature , under the name of Jean Baptiste de Mirabaud . -
“When we examine the opinions of men, we find that nothing is more uncommon, than common sense; or, in other words, they lack judgment to discover plain truths, or to reject absurdities, and palpable contradictions.”
Good Sense without God, or, Freethoughts Opposed to Supernatural Ideas (London: W. Stewart & Co., ca. 1900) ( Project Gutenberg e-text ), preface | Translator unknown. Original publication in French at Amsterdam, 1772, as Le bon sens ("Common Sense"), and often attributed to John Meslier . -
“Translator unknown. Original publication in French at Amsterdam, 1772, as Le bon sens ("Common Sense"), and often attributed to John Meslier .”
When we examine the opinions of men, we find that nothing is more uncommon, than common sense; or, in other words, they lack judgment to discover plain truths, or to reject absurdities, and palpable contradictions.