Diderot interrupted their discussion one day to ask the empress, who always was very attentive during their conversations, why none of his suggestions had been implemented. Her answer spelled out very clearly just where Diderot’s jurisdiction began, and where it ended. Monsieur Diderot, I have listened with the greatest pleasure to all the inspirations flowing from your brilliant mind. But all your grand philosophies, which I understand very well, would do marvelously in books and very badly in practice. In your plans for reform, you forget the difference between our two roles: you work only
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