Collection of famous quotes by Voltaire.
François-Marie Arouet, known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his criticism of Christianity—especially the Roman Catholic Church—as well as his advocacy of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state
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Best Quotes by Voltaire
What most persons consider as virtue after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.
He who has not the spirit of this age has all the misery of it.
We are rarely proud when we are alone.
Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.
Time which alone makes the reputation of men ends by making their defects respectable.
The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture their amphitheaters for wild beasts to fight in.
In general the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.
The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third.
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
God is not on the side of the big battalions but on the side of those who shoot best.
Never argue at the dinner table for the one who is not hungry always gets the best of the argument.
The best is the enemy of the good.
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.
The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
God gave us the gift of life it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
Business is the salt of life.
I do not agree with what you have to say but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.
The safest course is to do nothing against one’s conscience. With this secret we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.
It is vain for the coward to flee death follows close behind it is only by defying it that the brave escape.
Nature has always had more force than education.
Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?
Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.
What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.
The safest course is to do nothing against one’s conscience. With this secret we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.
Fear follows crime and is its punishment.
Friendship is the marriage of the soul and this marriage is liable to divorce.
The superfluous a very necessary thing.
It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.
We must cultivate our own garden. When man was put in the garden of Eden he was put there so that he should work which proves that man was not born to rest.
God gave us the gift of life it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
I have never made but one prayer to God a very short one: ‘O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.’ And God granted it.
God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
All men are born with a nose and ten fingers but no one was born with a knowledge of God.
God is not on the side of the big battalions but on the side of those who shoot best.
If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent Him.
Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.
If there were no God it would be necessary to invent him.
It is not known precisely where angels dwell whether in the air the void or the planets. It has not been God’s pleasure that we should be informed of their abode.
If God created us in his own image we have more than reciprocated.
The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not discovers to me his existence.
To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd.
Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
It is lamentable that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
Better is the enemy of good.
The best is the enemy of the good.
The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day and of doing good once in a year.
All styles are good except the tiresome kind.
In this country it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.
In general the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.
An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third.
The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.
One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.
The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great.
History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.
Indeed history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
History should be written as philosophy.
The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours kindle it at home communicate it to others and it becomes the property of all.
Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.
Common sense is not so common.
All men are born with a nose and ten fingers but no one was born with a knowledge of God.
It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge.
God gave us the gift of life it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.
Life is thickly sown with thorns and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes the greater is their power to harm us.
The safest course is to do nothing against one’s conscience. With this secret we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.
Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.
It is not love that should be depicted as blind but self-love.
Love has features which pierce all hearts he wears a bandage which conceals the faults of those beloved. He has wings he comes quickly and flies away the same.
Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe however that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.
Friendship is the marriage of the soul and this marriage is liable to divorce.
Of all religions the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.
All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.
All men are born with a nose and ten fingers but no one was born with a knowledge of God.
Men use thought only as authority for their injustice and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.
Time which alone makes the reputation of men ends by making their defects respectable.
There are truths which are not for all men nor for all times.
Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him.
Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die.
In general the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.
When it is a question of money everybody is of the same religion.
Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly – that is the first law of nature.
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.
We are all full of weakness and errors let us mutually pardon each other our follies – it is the first law of nature.
Nature has always had more force than education.
How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child’s board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted.
It is lamentable that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.
Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.
Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.
Life is thickly sown with thorns and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes the greater is their power to harm us.
What then do you call your soul? What idea have you of it? You cannot of yourselves without revelation admit the existence within you of anything but a power unknown to you of feeling and thinking.
The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason.
Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.
Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.
When it is a question of money everybody is of the same religion.
The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason.
To the living we owe respect but to the dead we owe only the truth.
He is a hard man who is only just and a sad one who is only wise.
He who is not just is severe he who is not wise is sad.
Society therefore is an ancient as the world.
Tears are the silent language of grief.
Time which alone makes the reputation of men ends by making their defects respectable.
In this country it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.
Perfection is attained by slow degrees it requires the hand of time.
To the living we owe respect but to the dead we owe only the truth.
I am very fond of truth but not at all of martyrdom.
It is forbidden to kill therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
To hold a pen is to be at war.
All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.
I hate women because they always know where things are.
Very learned women are to be found in the same manner as female warriors but they are seldom or ever inventors.
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
We must cultivate our own garden. When man was put in the garden of Eden he was put there so that he should work which proves that man was not born to rest.
The flowery style is not unsuitable to public speeches or addresses which amount only to compliment. The lighter beauties are in their place when there is nothing more solid to say but the flowery style ought to be banished from a pleading a sermon or a didactic work.
Let us work without theorizing tis the only way to make life endurable.
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