My favorite story is that he liked tricking his teachers by working really obscure syntax into his Latin and Greek, waiting for them to correct him, then taking great pleasure in proving that he was right and they were wrong.
This is hilarious to me not least because it makes perfect sense that this is your favorite story :D
He manages to court her by convincing her parents that he's EXTREMELY CHASTE, i.e. on the verge of becoming a priest. In a very similar way, he recently once swindled someone out of a bunch of money by pretending he was about to enter the priesthood.
Wow!
This new and improved, "Now with more Rousseau-trashing!"
ahahahaha!
And to her credit, his wife Toinette, who is notably pious herself, wants Diderot to be able to get the assurance that he would get the burial he wants without having to convert, if he's dead set on not converting, and does her best to make that happen.
So, like, this is actually really touching to me. (I know very few notably pious people who would not be jonesing for the conversion, and that's in this day and age.)
Diderot: Or I could move to a different parish. Byyyeeee!
lolololol!
Ghost of Voltaire: Never let it be said that I took the easy route, even in death!
Voltaire, you... are not inaccurate there.
While having anything but a heroic death à la Socrates, Diderot had nonetheless expired in a way that was perfectly compatible with his philosophy: without a priest, with humor, and while attempting to eke out one last bit of pleasure from life.
That's actually kind of great, a good death in a different way than some others' good deaths, but it does seem like as good death as one is likely to get, to me. (Especially given that he was an atheist, so didn't run up against the religious problems of dying without confession.)
Re: Diderot - Personal Life
This is hilarious to me not least because it makes perfect sense that this is your favorite story :D
He manages to court her by convincing her parents that he's EXTREMELY CHASTE, i.e. on the verge of becoming a priest. In a very similar way, he recently once swindled someone out of a bunch of money by pretending he was about to enter the priesthood.
Wow!
This new and improved, "Now with more Rousseau-trashing!"
ahahahaha!
And to her credit, his wife Toinette, who is notably pious herself, wants Diderot to be able to get the assurance that he would get the burial he wants without having to convert, if he's dead set on not converting, and does her best to make that happen.
So, like, this is actually really touching to me. (I know very few notably pious people who would not be jonesing for the conversion, and that's in this day and age.)
Diderot: Or I could move to a different parish. Byyyeeee!
lolololol!
Ghost of Voltaire: Never let it be said that I took the easy route, even in death!
Voltaire, you... are not inaccurate there.
While having anything but a heroic death à la Socrates, Diderot had nonetheless expired in a way that was perfectly compatible with his philosophy: without a priest, with humor, and while attempting to eke out one last bit of pleasure from life.
That's actually kind of great, a good death in a different way than some others' good deaths, but it does seem like as good death as one is likely to get, to me. (Especially given that he was an atheist, so didn't run up against the religious problems of dying without confession.)