Voltaire Quotes (373 Quotes)

Whoe'er thou art, thy master see He was - or is - or is to be.

Common sense is not so common.

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

Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels.

The individual who prosecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.

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

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

Philosopher A lover of wisdom, which is to say, Truth

Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors.

A good cook is a certain slow poisoner, if you are not temperate

Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel.

Work banishes those three great evils boredom, vice and poverty.

The secret of being tiresome is in telling everything.

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

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

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

History is nothing but a pack of tricks that we play upon the dead

The great consolation in life is to say what one thinks.

Every abuse ought to be reformed, unless the reform is more dangerous than the abuse itself.

The secret of being a bore... is to tell everything.

Rest is a good thing, but boredom is its brother.

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

True greatness consists in the use of a powerful understanding to enlighten oneself and others

The superfluous, a very necessary thing.

Whatever you do, trample down abuses, and love those who love you. Different translation Whatever you do, crush the infamous thing superstition, and love those who love you.

The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.

One of the chief misfortunes of honest people is that they are cowardly.

Work spares us from three evils boredom, vice, and need

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

Everything's fine today, that is our illusion.

Animals have these advantages over man They never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.

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

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

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

The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice.

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

In every author let us distinguish the man from his works.

It is not more surprising to be born twice than once everything in nature is resurrection

It is fancy rather than taste which produces so many new fashions.

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

War is the greatest of all crimes and yet there is no Aggressor who does not color his crime with the pretext of justice.

Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.

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.

Work keeps us from three great evils, boredom, vice and need.

Sir, your remarks are repugnant to me, and I disagree with your viewpoints. But I will defend to the death your right to express them.

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.

Weakness on both sides is, the motto of all quarrels.

Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and bloody religion that has ever infected the world.

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.