A method of driving a display device with a plurality of scanning side electrodes and a plurality of data side electrodes which are disposed in directions intersecting each other, and a dielectric layer interposed between the scanning side electrodes and the data side electrodes, and including steps of applying modulation voltages corresponding to display data to the data side electrodes, and also applying writing voltages of positive or negative polarity to the scanning side electrodes through line sequence, so as to cause picture elements composed of the dielectric layer to emit light. The driving method further includes steps of thinning out the display data, and applying a plurality of kinds of modulation voltages different in amplitude according to each frame, so as to cause the picture elements to effect gradation display of different brightness in multi-stages.