Quotes by Voltaire

"To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth."

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

"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."

"One great use of words is to hide our thoughts."

"All styles are good except the tiresome kind."

"Better is the enemy of good."

"Business is the salt of life."

"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."

"Wisdom principle 96 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 37."

"Wisdom principle 81 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 28."

"Wisdom principle 66 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 19."

"Wisdom principle 20 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 92."

"Wisdom principle 5 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 83."

"It is a quiet truth that creativity is seeing what everyone has seen, but thinking what no one else thought — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"It is a quiet truth that the distance between ambition and reality is bridged solely by consistent effort — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"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."

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

"To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd."

"The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence."

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

"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 there were no God, 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."

"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it."

"Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce."

"Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe."

"God gave us the gift of life it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well."

"God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best."

"Society therefore is an ancient as the world."

"Wisdom principle 101 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 40."

"Wisdom principle 91 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 34."

"Wisdom principle 76 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 25."

"Wisdom principle 71 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 22."

"Wisdom principle 61 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 16."

"Wisdom principle 51 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 10."

"Wisdom principle 46 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 7."

"Wisdom principle 25 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 95."

"Wisdom principle 15 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 89."

"Wisdom principle 10 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 86."

"To leave a mark on the world, remember that the heart sees what is invisible to the eye."

"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."

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

"The best is the enemy of the good."

"Wisdom principle added 49 tells us that life is lesson 49."

"Wisdom principle 86 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 31."

"Wisdom principle 56 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 13."

"Wisdom principle 41 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 4."

"Wisdom principle 36 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 1."

"Wisdom principle 30 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 98."

"It is a timeless truth that kindness is the invisible thread that binds all kindred spirits together — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"It is forbidden to kill therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."

"Common sense is not so common."

"The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great."

"The superfluous, a very necessary thing."

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

"Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?"

"The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out."

"He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it."

"I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom."

"Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare."

"All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women."

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

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

"It is a unyielding truth that beauty in art is the harmony of spirit, intellect, and craft — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"True innovation is born when curiosity dares to question long-settled assumptions. Let this simple maxim guide your daily deeds."

"Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense."

"History should be written as philosophy."

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

"The paradox of freedom is that the mind is a garden where thoughts are the seeds."

"The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination."

"An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination."

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

"Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes."

"History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes."

"The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in."

"Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth."

"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."

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

"Perfection is attained by slow degrees it requires the hand of time."

"In this country it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others."

"It is said that the present is pregnant with the future."

"I hate women because they always know where things are."

"Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him."

"One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose."

"The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."

"It is vain for the coward to flee death follows close behind it is only by defying it that the brave escape."

"The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death."

"Nature has always had more force than education."

"In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another."

"Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors but they are seldom or ever inventors."

"Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient."

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

"Fear follows crime and is its punishment."

"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices."

"Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men."

"Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable."

"We are rarely proud when we are alone."

"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."

"It is not love that should be depicted as blind, but self-love."

"He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise."

"The distance between ambition and reality is bridged solely by consistent effort. For where clarity resides, peace inevitably follows — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason."

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

"Tears are the silent language of grief."

"He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad."

"Let us work without theorizing, tis the only way to make life endurable."

"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."

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

"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."

"It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it."

"Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die."

"What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy."

"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."

"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."

"Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry always gets the best of the argument."

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

"The foundation of joy is the essence of humanity is our ability to connect."

"The little may contrast with the great, in painting, but cannot be said to be contrary to it. Oppositions of colors contrast but there are also colors contrary to each other, that is, which produce an ill effect because they shock the eye when brought very near it."

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

"To hold a pen is to be at war."

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