Voltaire

Voltaire was born November 1694 died May 1778 and was a renowned French author, philosopher, and satirist.

Quotes by Voltaire

Pleasantry is never good on serious points, because it always regards subjects in that point of view in which it is not the purpose to consider them.

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.

Why, since we are always complaining of our ills, are we constantly employed in redoubling them?

We offer up prayers to god only because we have made him after our own image. We treat him like a pasha, or a sultan, who is capable of being exasperated and appeased.

The necessity of saying something, the embarrassment produced by the consciousness of having nothing to say, and the desire to exhibit ability, are three things sufficient to render even a great man ridiculous.

God prefers bad verses recited with a pure heart, to the finest verses possible chanted by the wicked.

The more I read, the more I meditate; and the more I acquire, the more I am enabled to affirm that I know nothing.

A depraved taste in food is gratified with that which disgusts other people: it is a species of disease.

Thought depends absolutely on the stomach, but in spite of that, those who have the best stomachs are not the best thinkers.

I doubt not that in due time, when the arts are brought to perfection, some means will be found to give a sound head to a man who has none at all.

It is with books as with men; a very small number play a great part; the rest are lost in the multitude.

Individual misfortunes give rise to the general good; so that the more individual misfortunes exist, the more all is fine.

The question of good and evil remains in irremediable chaos for those who seek to fathom it in reality. It is mere mental sport to the disputants, who are captives that play with their chains.

If mankind were born tomorrow it would divide into groups; each would scramble to invent their one and only god, and set about butchering each-other.

The policy of man consists, at first, in endeavoring to arrive at a state equal to that of animals, whom nature has furnished with food, clothing, and shelter.

Theological religion is the source of all imaginable follies and disturbances. It is the parent of fanaticism and civil discord; it is the enemy of mankind.

We live in society; there is therefore nothing truly good for us that which does good to society.

Opinion is called the queen of the world; it is so, for when reason opposes it, it is condemned to death. It must rise twenty times from its ashes to gradually drive away the usurper.

Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him.

Men, who are occupied in the restoration of health to other men, by the joint exertion of skill and humanity, are above all the great of the earth. They even partake of divinity, since to preserve and renew is almost as noble as to create.

There are two things for which animals are to be envied: they know nothing of future evils, or of what people say about them.

History is the recital of facts represented as true. Fable, on the other hand, is the recital of facts represented as fiction.

Let all the laws be clear, uniform and precise for interpreting laws is almost always to corrupt them.

Adultery is an evil only inasmuch as it is a theft; but we do not steal that which is given to us.

The abuse of grace is affectation, as the abuse of the sublime is absurdity; all perfection is nearly a fault.

The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.

It is amusing that a virtue is made of the vice of chastity; and it’s a pretty odd sort of chastity at that, which leads men straight into the sin of Onan, and girls to the waning of their color. 

Men use thought only to justify their wrong doings, and speech only to conceal their thoughts.

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. 

I was never ruined but twice, once when I lost a lawsuit, and once when I gained one.

It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

When the speaker and he to whom he speaks do not understand, that is metaphysics. 

The secret of making one’s self tiresome is not to know when to stop.  

A witty saying proves nothing. 

All styles are good, except the boring kind. 

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.

Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly. 

Prejudice is the reason of fools. 

The superfluous is very necessary.