Top 716 Quotes & Sayings by Voltaire - Page 3
Explore popular quotes and sayings by a French writer Voltaire.
Last updated on October 27, 2024.
What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.
He shines in the second rank, who is eclipsed in the first.
Religion was instituted to make us happy in this life and in the other. What must we do to be happy in the life to come? Be just.
Our country is that spot to which our heart is bound.
I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil.
Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest.
Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.
He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.
Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.
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.
In every author let us distinguish the man from his works.
Society therefore is as ancient as the world.
Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent.
Let us work without theorizing, tis the only way to make life endurable.
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.
The ancients recommended us to sacrifice to the Graces, but Milton sacrificed to the Devil.
Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels.
The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great.
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.
Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel.
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.
Very often, say what you will, a knave is only a fool.
The multitude of books is making us ignorant.
When men do not have healthy notions of the Divinity, false ideas supplant them, just as in bad times one uses counterfeit money when there is no good money.
We cannot wish for that we know not.
We must distinguish between speaking to deceive and being silent to be reserved.
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.
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.
Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him.
Dont think money does everything or you are going to end up doing everything for money.
It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.
Beware of the words "internal security," for they are the eternal cry of the oppressor.
The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe.
Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.
Give me the patience for the small things of life, courage for the great trials of life. Help me to do my best each day and then go to sleep knowing God is awake.
The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood.
Many are destined to reason wrongly; others, not to reason at all; and others, to persecute those who do reason.
Every man can educate himself. It's shameful to put one's mind into the hands of those whom you wouldn't entrust with your money. Dare to think for yourself.
The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor.
?Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.
Doctors put drugs of which they know little into bodies of which they know less for diseases of which they know nothing at all.
The right to free speech is more important than the content of the speech.
You have no control over the hand that life deals you, but how you play that hand is entirely up to you.
If there’s life on other planets, then the earth is the Universe’s insane asylum.
Je ne suis pas d'accord avec ce que vous dites, mais je d‚fendrai jusqu'... la mort le droit que vous avez de le dire/ I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it
The mirror is a worthless invention. The only way to truly see yourself is in the reflection of someone else's eyes.
The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.
The more a man knows, the less he talks.
We are all guilty of the good we did not do
Doubt is uncomfortable, certainty is ridiculous.
The more often a stupidity is repeated, the more it gets the appearance of wisdom.
So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.
Those who can be made to believe absurdities can be made to commit atrocities.
Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it.
It is not inequality which is the real misfortune, it is dependence.
The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us
The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by Infinity is to contemplate the extent of human stupidity.
If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize.
Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said.
It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.
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