Gaiety is a quality of ordinary men. Genius always presupposes some disorder in the machine.
Interpretation
Genius often stems from imperfections, while joy is a trait found in everyone.
Denis Diderot's quote suggests that while ordinary people can experience joy and gaiety, genius is often accompanied by a certain level of chaos or disorder. This implies that those who think outside the box or create something extraordinary may demonstrate an unconventional approach or mindset that deviates from the norm.
In practice
In a motivational talk about creativity at a workshop.
The arbitrary rule of a just and enlightened prince is always bad. His virtues are the most dangerous and the surest form of seduction: they lull a people imperceptibly into the habit of loving, respecting, and serving his successor, whoever that successor may be, no matter how wicked or stupid.
This root [the potato], no matter how much you prepare it, is tasteless and floury. It cannot pass for an agreeable food, but it supplies a food sufficiently abundant and sufficiently healthy for men who ask only to sustain themselves. The potato is criticized with reason for being windy, but what matters windiness for the vigorous organisms of peasants and laborers?
Do you see this egg? With this you can topple every theological theory, every church or temple in the world.
There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge... observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination.
In order to get as much fame as one's father one has to much more able than he.
All abstract sciences are nothing but the study of relations between signs.
Non-Indian writers usually say "Great Spirit," "Mother Earth," "Two-Legged, Four-Legged, and Winged." Mixed-blood writers usually say "Creator, "Mother Earth," "Two-Legged, Four- Legged, and Winged." Indian writers usually say "God," "Mother Earth," "Human Being, Dog, and Bird."
Remember the emphasis on the heart. the mind lives in doubt and the heart lives in trust. When you trust, suddenly you become centered.
I believe we face the question: if not now, then when? And if we are grasped by this vision, we may also hear the question: If not us, then who? And if the gospel of Jesus is not the key to this task, then what is?
When God wants to drive a person insane, he grants that person's every wish.
We cannot choose freedom established on a hierarchy of degrees of freedom, on a caste system of equality like military rank. We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.
A gift without a heart behind it is a bribe. God asks for our heart, not our gifts.
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