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Home
Authors
Voltaire
French
Writer
About the author
Paradise was made for tender hearts; hell, for loveless hearts.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Hell
#Paradise
Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Time
#Perfection
Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Reason
#Fools
The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Nothing
Society therefore is an ancient as the world.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#World
#Society
The best is the enemy of the good.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Enemy
Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Daughter
#Earth
#Mother
#Religion
#Daughters
#Astrology
#Astronomy
#Superstition
Tears are the silent language of grief.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Language
#Grief
#Tears
The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Architecture
#Fight
The ancients recommended us to sacrifice to the Graces, but Milton sacrificed to the Devil.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Sacrifice
#Devil
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.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Art
#Government
#Nation
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Art
#Disease
#Nature
#Medicine
The superfluous, a very necessary thing.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Men
#Literary
#Lies
#Satire
We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Living
#Expectation
The secret of being a bore... is to tell everything.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Being
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Law
#First
#Nature
#Weakness
#Errors
We are rarely proud when we are alone.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
We cannot always oblige; but we can always speak obligingly.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
We cannot wish for that we know not.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Right
#Risk
#Tongue
Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Women
We must distinguish between speaking to deceive and being silent to be reserved.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Being
Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Man
#Abuse
#Excess
#Abstinence
Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Weakness
#Quarrels
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.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Law
#First
#Nature
#Humanity
#Error
#Folly
#Tolerance
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.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Thinking
#Feeling
#Power
#Idea
#Soul
#Existence
When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Metaphysics
When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Money
#Question
#Religion
Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Country
Woe to the makers of literal translations, who by rendering every word weaken the meaning! It is indeed by so doing that we can say the letter kills and the spirit gives life.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Life
#Spirit
#Word
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.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Work
#Man
#Rest
#Garden
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Words
#Thoughts
The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Reason
The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Reason
#Power
#Religion
The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#God
#Existence
#Impossibility
The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#World
#Dream
There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Men
Very often, say what you will, a knave is only a fool.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Will
#Fool
#Knave
This self-love is the instrument of our preservation; it resembles the provision for the perpetuity of mankind: it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives us pleasure, and we must conceal it.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Self
#Pleasure
The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Laws
Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Time
#Men
#Reputation
To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#God
To hold a pen is to be at war.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#War
#Pen
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#World
#Succeed
To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Respect
#Living
#Truth
To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Support
#Virtue
#Laws
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Privilege
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#God
Injustice in the end produces independence.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#End
#Independence
#Injustice
I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Life
#Nothing
#Years
#Man
#Sorrow
#Spiders
#Flies
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#God
#Enemies
#Prayer
I have only ever made one prayer to God, a very short one: O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#God
#Enemies
#Prayer
I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Evil
#Books
I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Feet
#Lie
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Right
#Death
If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#God
I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Truth
If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#God
Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#First
#Illusion
All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Numbers
#Sound
All styles are good except the tiresome kind.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Men
#Worth
#Women
#Sentiment
An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Democracy
#Government
#Assassination
Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Power
Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Play
#Trying
Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Appreciation
Better is the enemy of good.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Enemy
What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Age
#Virtue
#Energy
#Loss
Behind every successful man stands a surprised mother-in-law.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Successful
#Man
#Mother
As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#People
#Will
A witty saying proves nothing.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Nothing
#Saying
#Witty
Our country is that spot to which our heart is bound.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Heart
#Country
Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
Do well and you will have no need for ancestors.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Will
Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Man
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.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Life
#Play
#Deals
#Order
#Cards
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Doubt
#Certainty
Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Marriage
#Divorce
Common sense is not so common.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Common sense
Clever tyrants are never punished.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Chance
#Nothing
#Sense
#Word
#Cause
Business is the salt of life.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Life
#Business
Fear follows crime and is its punishment.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Fear
#Crime
#Punishment
By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Property
#Excellence
#Appreciation
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.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Eye
#May
#Effect
#Painting
#Contrast
#Colors
The ear is the avenue to the heart.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Heart
The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#World
#First
#Rest
#Son
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.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Public
#Style
#Work
#Nothing
#Compliment
The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Wife
#Husband
The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Democracy
#Government
#Assassination
Everything's fine today, that is our illusion.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Today
#Illusion
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.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Home
#Books
#Property
#Fire
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Government
#Tyranny
#Assassination
The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Heart
The multitude of books is making us ignorant.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Books
The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Day
#Opportunity
The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Man
#Progress
#Error
#Ocean
#Rivers
The public is a ferocious beast; one must either chain it or flee from it.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Public
The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Life
#Nothing
#Death
#Fear
#Conscience
The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Pride
Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#May
#Truth
#Thoughts
Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Madness
#Optimism
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Nothing
#Writers
#Originality
#Imitation
In every author let us distinguish the man from his works.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Man
In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Art
#Government
#Money
#Class
In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#News
In this country it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Time
#Country
Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Trouble
#Earth
#Opinion
Ice-cream is exquisite - what a pity it isn't illegal.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Pity
He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Question
#Answers
What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Burden
#Name
#Famous
Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Soul
#Marriage
#Friendship
#Divorce
Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Life
#God
#Living
God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#God
God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#God
I hate women because they always know where things are.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Women
#Hate
He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Man
Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Experience
He shines in the second rank, who is eclipsed in the first.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#First
#Rank
He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Friend
He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Spirit
#Age
#Misery
He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#History
History should be written as philosophy.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#History
#Philosophy
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.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Man
#Father
#Shadow
#Oak
Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
Nature has always had more force than education.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Education
#Nature
#Force
Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Nothing
#History
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.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Love
#Faults
#Flies
Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Love
#Imagination
#Nature
Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Man
#Wishes
Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Thinking
#Consciousness
#Thoughts
#Meditation
#Awareness
#Infinity
Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Nothing
#Men
#Hate
Let us work without theorizing, tis the only way to make life endurable.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Life
#Work
My life is a struggle.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Life
#Struggle
Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Dance
#Will
#World
#Harm
Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry always gets the best of the argument.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Argument
No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Thinking
No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Nothing
#Reason
#Religion
#Common sense
Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#God
#Nothing
#Eating
#Necessity
#Pleasure
#Drinking
Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Now
#Men
#Christian
#Tolerance
Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Reason
#Power
#Faith
Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Thought
#Authority
#Men
#Speech
#Thoughts
#Injustice
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.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#God
#Pleasure
#Angels
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.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Thought
#Ignorance
#Spirit
#Virtue
#Knowledge
#Virginity
#Superstition
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Man
#Risk
It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Right
#Wrong
It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Fools
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Numbers
#Sound
#Forbidden
It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Fools
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.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Life
#Power
#Harm
It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Words
#Will
#Prose
#Poetry
#Merit
It is not love that should be depicted as blind, but self-love.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Love
#Self
#Blind
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Work
#Beauty
It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Mind
#Virtue
#Virginity
It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Present
#Future
It is the flash which appears, the thunderbolt will follow.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Will
It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Death
Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Man
#Questions
#Answers
It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#Enemy
#Rest
#Mankind
Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God.
Voltaire,
French
Writer
#God
#Men
#Knowledge