Famous Voltaire (François Marie Arouet) Quotations

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"One great use of words is to hide our thoughts."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"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."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Better is the enemy of good."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"To hold a pen is to be at war."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Men argue, Nature acts."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"A multitude of laws in a country is like a great number of physicians, a sign of weakness and malady."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"A witty saying proves nothing"
by Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
"All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung"
by Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
"Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well"
by Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
"As long as people believe in absurdities, they will continue to commit atrocities."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Change everything except your loves."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres. (In this country England it is thought well to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others. from Candide)"
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Doubt is not a pleasant state of mind, but certainty is absurd."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"God is a comic playing to an audience that's afraid to laugh."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh"
by Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
"Hamlet is a course and barbarous play. One might think the work is the product of a drunken savage's imagination."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"History is little else than a picture of human crimes and misfortunes."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"History is fables agreed upon."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"I may not believe in what you say, but I will die for your right to do so."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"If God has created us in His image, we have more than returned the compliment"
by Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
"If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent Him. But all nature cries aloud that He does exist that there is a supreme intelligence, an immense power, an admirable order, and everything teaches us our own dependence on it."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"If this world were what it seems it should be, it is clear that it would be impossible for one man to enslave another."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"In this country England it is well to kill from time to time an admiral to encourage the others."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"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."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"It is not enough to conquer one must learn to seduce."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Le sens commun n'est pas si commun (Common sense is not so common)"
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination"
by Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
"Love truth, but pardon error."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Love truth but pardon error."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly"
by Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
"Needless to say since Christ's expiation not one single Christian has been known to sin, or die."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense"
by Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
"Of all religions, Christianity is without a doubt the one that should inspire tolerance most, although, up to now, the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Only now did I become throughly acquainted with the seducer of our people. It is not the inequality which is the real misfortune, it is the dependance."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Originality is nothing by judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"People have declaimed against luxury for 2000 years, in verse and in prose, and people have always delighted in it."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Philosopher A lover of wisdom, which is to say, Truth."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Really, to stop criticism, they say, one must die."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Right now I think censorship is necessary the things they're doing and saying in films right now just shouldn't be allowed. There's no dignity anymore and I think that's very important."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"The first who was king was a fortunate soldier Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"The great consolation in life is to say what one thinks."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"The progress of the rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"The secret of being boring is to tell everything."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"The wicked can have only accomplices, the voluptuous have companions in debauchery, self-seekers have associates, the politic assemble the factions, the typical idler has connections, princes have courtiers. Only the virtuous have friends."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"There has never been a perfect government, because men have passions and if they did not have passions, there would be no need for government."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"When we have lost everything, including hope, life becomes a disgrace, and death a duty."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"A long dispute means that both parties are wrong"
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"Weakness on both sides is, the motto of all quarrels."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"He who dies before many witnesses always does so with courage."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"All kinds are good except the kind that bores you."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"Doubt is not a pleasant mental state, but certainty is a ridiculous one."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"The only way to compel men to speak good of us is to do it."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"All people are equal, it is not birth, it is virtue alone that makes the difference."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"You must have the devil in you to succeed in the arts."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"What a heavy burden is a name that has become famous too soon."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"It is new fancy rather than taste which produces so many new fashions."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"History is only the pattern of silken slippers descending the stairs to the thunder of hobnailed boots climbing upward from below."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"History is nothing but a pack of tricks that we play upon the dead."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"History is just the portrayal of crimes and misfortunes."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"Originality is nothing but judicious plagiarism."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"I was never ruined but twice; once when I lost a lawsuit and once when I won one."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"Shun idleness is the rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies it is the first law of nature."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"If there were only one religion in England there would be danger of despotism, if there were two, they would cut each other's throats, but there are thirty, and they live in peace and happiness."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"Perfection is attained by slow degrees; she requires the hand of time."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"The public is a ferocious beast. One must either chain it up or flee from it."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"When he to whom a person speaks does not understand, and he who speaks does not understand himself, that is metaphysics."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"Four thousand volumes of metaphysics will not teach us what the soul is."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"Pleasure is the object, duty and the goal of all rational creatures."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"The discover of what is true, and the practice of that which is good, are the two most important objects of philosophy."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"My prayer to God is a very short one: O Lord, make my enemies look ridiculous! God has granted it."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"All the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"The Pope is an idol whose hands are tied and whose feet are kissed."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"We owe respect to the living. To the dead we owe only truth."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"Paradise is Where I Am."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy; the mad daughter of a wise mother."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"I die adoring God,loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"Truth is a fruit which should not be plucked until it is ripe."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"To announce truths is an infallible receipt for being persecuted."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"When one man speaks to another man who doesn't understand him, and when the man who's speaking no longer understands, it's metaphysics."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)


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