Top 716 Quotes & Sayings by Voltaire - Page 2
Explore popular quotes and sayings by a French writer Voltaire.
Last updated on December 23, 2024.
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.
To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.
We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.
Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.
Nature has always had more force than education.
It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.
Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.
By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.
Such is the feebleness of humanity, such is its perversity, that doubtless it is better for it to be subject to all possible superstitions, as long as they are not murderous, than to live without religion.
It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape.
We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard.
The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.
Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors.
It is not love that should be depicted as blind, but self-love.
When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.
Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.
He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad.
The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason.
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.
Ice-cream is exquisite - what a pity it isn't illegal.
The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year.
I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.
One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.
To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd.
The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs.
Everything's fine today, that is our illusion.
Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
History should be written as philosophy.
What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.
Fear follows crime and is its punishment.
The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days.
Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.
The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.
It is the flash which appears, the thunderbolt will follow.
Let the punishments of criminals be useful. A hanged man is good for nothing; a man condemned to public works still serves the country, and is a living lesson.
I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms.
He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it.
The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.
All styles are good except the tiresome kind.
Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die.
We cannot always oblige; but we can always speak obligingly.
The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice.
Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce.
In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.
We are rarely proud when we are alone.
The public is a ferocious beast; one must either chain it or flee from it.
It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.
Use, do not abuse... neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.
The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.
The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in.
Paradise was made for tender hearts; hell, for loveless hearts.
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.
All men are born with a nose and five fingers, but no one is born with a knowledge of God.
The best is the enemy of the good.
The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.
Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.
Wherever there is a settled society, religion is necessary; the laws cover manifest crimes, and religion covers secret crimes.
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