Quotations | Voltaire, Francois Marie Arouet
Voltaire lived in early eighteenth century France. I believe his insights prove the truth in the expression, the more things change the more they stay the same.
A witty saying proves nothing.
All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.
Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.
Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
Behind every successful man stands a surprised mother-in-law.
Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.
Everything's fine today, that is our illusion.
God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.
I hate women because they always know where things are.
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.
In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.
Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
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.
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.
It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.
Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.
Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.
Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.
Neither holy, nor Roman, nor Empire.
No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.
Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.
Originality is nothing by judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.
Paradise was made for tender hearts; hell, for loveless hearts.
Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time.
Tears are the silent language of grief.
The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice.
There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies–it is the first law of nature.
We are rarely proud when we are alone.
What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.
You see many stars at night in the sky but find them not when the sun rises; can you say that there are no stars in the heaven of day? So, O man! because you behold not God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.
All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.
Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.
Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
Behind every successful man stands a surprised mother-in-law.
Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.
Everything's fine today, that is our illusion.
God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.
I hate women because they always know where things are.
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.
In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.
Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
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.
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.
It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.
Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.
Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.
Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.
Neither holy, nor Roman, nor Empire.
No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.
Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.
Originality is nothing by judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.
Paradise was made for tender hearts; hell, for loveless hearts.
Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time.
Tears are the silent language of grief.
The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice.
There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies–it is the first law of nature.
We are rarely proud when we are alone.
What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.
You see many stars at night in the sky but find them not when the sun rises; can you say that there are no stars in the heaven of day? So, O man! because you behold not God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.
