Voltaire Quotes

It is with books as with men: a very small number play a great part.

The man who, in a fit of melancholy, kills himself today, would have wished to live had he waited a ...

At a great distance appeared with the same pomp the sheep of Thebes, the dog of Bubastis, the cat of...

God is a circle whose centre is everywhere and circumference nowhere.

England has forty-two religions and only two sauces.

All the known world excepting only savage nations is governed by books.

Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoug...

What's optimism? said Cacambo. Alas, said Candide, it is a mania for saying things are well when one...

The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, c...

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.

We are intelligent beings: intelligent beings cannot have been formed by a crude, blind, insensible ...

My prayer to God is a very short one "Oh Lord make my enemies ridiculous!" God has granted it.

If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.")

In the beginning God created man in His own image, and man has been trying to repay the favor ever s...

The world embarrasses me and I cannot dream That this watch exists and has no watchmaker.

Go into the London Stock Exchange – a more respectable place than many a court – and you will see re...

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.

Doubt is not a pleasant state but certainty is a ridiculous one.

The secret of boring people lies in telling them everything.

He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend- provided of course he really is dead.

Froth at the top dregs at bottom but the middle excellent.

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And ...

God prefers bad verses recited with a pure heart to the finest verses chanted by the wicked.

If there were no God it would be necessary to invent him.

History should be written as philosophy.

Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some w...

Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one.

Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

Speaking of Newton but also commenting more broadly on education and the Enlightenment: "I have seen...

We offer up prayers to God only because we have made Him after our own image. We treat Him like a Pa...

Fear succeeds crime - it is its punishment.

If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent him.

Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone ...

It is said that God is always on the side of the big battalions.

Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.

Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.

The superfluous is very necessary.

You despise books; you whose lives are absorbed in the vanities of ambition, the pursuit of pleasure...

We must cultivate our own garden. When man was put in the garden of Eden he was put there so that he...

God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.

It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opi...

The longer we dwell on our misfortunes the greater is their power to harm us.

All men are born with a nose and five fingers, but no one is born with a knowledge of God.

Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.

He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.

We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation.

There are truths that are not for all men nor for all times.

The secret of being tiresome is in telling everything.

Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.

I disapprove of what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Nature has always had more force than education.

I die adoring God loving my friends not hating my enemies and detesting superstition.

Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it.

The heart has its own reasons that reason can't understand.

We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their h...

Doubt is not a pleasant condition but certainty is.

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another....

Never having been able to succeed in the world he took his revenge by speaking ill of it.

There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.

By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.

By what incomprehensible mechanism are our organs held in subjection to sentiment and thought? How i...

Fear could never make a virtue.

The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild ...

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

The infinitely little have pride infinitely great.

The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day and of doing good once in a year.

What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.

Tears are the silent language of grief.

Fear follows crime and is its punishment.

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.

The punishment of criminals should be of use when a man is hanged he is good for nothing.

Men use thought only to justify their wrongdoings and speech only to conceal their thoughts.

Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. It is not enough that ...

It is dangerous to be right, when the government is wrong

It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not...

He who thinks himself wise O heavens! is a great fool.

Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objecti...

When it is a question of money everybody is of the same religion.

When we hear news we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.

All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God.

It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.

Reading nurtures the soul, and an enlightened friend brings it solace.

The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.

Many are destined to reason wrongly others not to reason at all: and others to persecute those who...

I never was ruined but twice - once when I lost a lawsuit and once when I gained one.

Love truth, but pardon error.

We are all full of weakness and errors let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the fir...

One day everything will be well, that is our hope. Everything's fine today, that is our illusion

If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciproc

God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh.

Doctors are men who prescribe medicines of which they know little to cure diseases of which they kn...

It is forbidden to kill therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and t...

Having lived with kings, I have become a king in my own home.

Answer me, you who believe that animals are only machines. Has nature arranged for this animal to ha...

Shun idleness. It is a rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals.

It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.

Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives and few are able to raise themselves above the ...

You (Pindar) who possessed the talent of speaking much without saying anything.

Fear follows crime and is its punishment.