Voltaire Quotes (373 Quotes)

What will the preachers say ... to teach men not to persecute men for, while a few sanctimonious humbugs are burning a few fanatics, the earth opens and swallows up all alike.

I have no sceptre, but I have a pen.

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

Regimen is superior to medicine, especially as, from time immemorial, out of every hundred physicians, ninety-eight are charlatans

The multitude of books is making us ignorant.

Prejudices are what fools use for reason.

History is no more than the portrayal of crimes and misfortunes

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.

Nature has always had more force than education.

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.

Now, now my good man, this is no time for making enemies.

I hate women because they always know where things are.

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.

We are rarely proud when we are alone.

He who has heard the same thing told by 12,000 eye-witnesses has only 12,000 probabilities, which are equal to one strong probability, which is far from certain.

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.

I know of nothing more laughable than a doctor who does not die of old age.

'I have no more than twenty acres of ground,' he replied, 'the whole of which I cultivate myself with the help of my children and our labor keeps off from us the three great evils - boredom, vice, and want.'

The fate of a nation is often dependent upon the good or bad digestion of a prime minister.

This agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.

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

Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.

Very often, say what you will, a knave is only a fool.

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

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

He who is merely just is severe.

History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.

The only way to compel men to speak good of us is to do it.

Prejudice is an opinion without judgment.

A fool is a person who guesses and gets it wrong, a clever man is one who guesses, regardless of time period, and gets it right

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

As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.

Exaggeration is the inseparable companion of greatness.

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

It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.

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

History should be written as philosophy.

Slavery is also as ancient as war, And war as human nature.

You can never correct your work well until you have forgotten it.

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

He who dies before many witnesses always does so with courage.

I also know that we should cultivate our gardens.

In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.

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

You will notice that in all disputes between Christians since the birth of the Church, Rome has always favored the doctrine which most completely subjugated the human mind and annihilated reason

A man loved by a beautiful woman will always get out of trouble

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

Men appear to prefer to ruin one another's fortunes, and to cut each other's throats over a few miserable villages, than to extend the means of human happiness

The punishment of criminals should serve a purpose. When a man is hanged he is useless.

Every man is the creature of the age in which he lives very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time.