Baron d'Holbach
1723 - 1789
5
Quotes
Biography
Baron d'Holbach, born Paul-Henri Thiry, was an 18th-century French-German philosopher, encyclopedist, and prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. As a proponent of atheism and materialism, he authored several influential works criticizing religion and espousing a deterministic worldview. Holbach's Paris salon became a meeting place for leading intellectuals of his time, where discussions on science, philosophy, and politics flourished. Despite using pseudonyms to shield his identity due to the controversial nature of his ideas, Holbach's writings left a lasting impact on the intellectual landscape of his era.
Famous Quotes (5)
1
Man has no free will; everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control.
2
Prejudices subsist in people's minds because they are features of a societal order which promotes delusion, illusory interest, and fear.
3
If we go back to the beginning, we shall find that ignorance and fear created the gods; that fancy, enthusiasm, or deceit adorned them; that weakness worships them; that credulity preserves them, and that custom, respect and tyranny support them in order to make the blindness of men serve their own interests.
4
The manner in which education is generally conducted, is a plug which stops a child's faculties, as effectually as a cork inserted into an empty bottle stops the motion of the fluids.
5
The universe reveals to us a relentless chain of events in which the present is linked to the past and the future can be divined.