Voltaire Quotes

A company of tyrants is inaccessible to all seductions.
Voltaire

A witty saying proves nothing.
Voltaire

All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God.
Voltaire

All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
Voltaire

All styles are good except the tiresome kind.
Voltaire

All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.
Voltaire

An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
Voltaire

Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.
Voltaire

Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.
Voltaire

Anything too stupid to be said is sung.
Voltaire

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
Voltaire

As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.
Voltaire

Behind every successful man stands a surprised mother-in-law.
Voltaire

Better is the enemy of good.
Voltaire

Business is the salt of life.
Voltaire

But nothing is more estimable than a physician who, having studied nature from his youth, knows the properties of the human body, the diseases which assail it, the remedies which will benefit it, exercises his art with caution, and pays equal attention to the rich and the poor.
Voltaire

By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.
Voltaire

Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.
Voltaire

Clever tyrants are never punished.
Voltaire

Common sense is not so common.
Voltaire

Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.
Voltaire

Do well and you will have no need for ancestors.
Voltaire

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

Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
Voltaire

Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest.
Voltaire

Everything is for the best in this best of possible worlds.
Voltaire

Everything's fine today, that is our illusion.
Voltaire

Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.
Voltaire

Fear follows crime and is its punishment.
Voltaire

For take thy balance if thou be so wise And weigh the wind that under heaven doth blow; Or weigh the light that in the east doth rise; Or weigh the thought that from man's mind doth flow.
Voltaire

Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce.
Voltaire

Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent.
Voltaire

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
Voltaire

God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
Voltaire

He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.
Voltaire

He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.
Voltaire

He shines in the second rank, who is eclipsed in the first.
Voltaire

He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
Voltaire

He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it.
Voltaire

He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad.
Voltaire

He who thinks himself wise, O heavens! is a great fool.
Voltaire

History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.
Voltaire

How inexpressible is the meanness of being a hypocrite! how horrible is it to be a mischievous and malignant hypocrite.
Voltaire

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

I advice you to go on living solely to enrage those who are paying you annuities.
Voltaire

I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.
Voltaire

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.
Voltaire

I hate women because they always know where things are.
Voltaire

I have always made one prayer to God, a very short one. Here it is: "My God, make our enemies very ridiculous!" God has granted it to me.
Voltaire

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it.
Voltaire

I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil.
Voltaire

I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it.
Voltaire

I Thy God am the Light and the Mind which were before substance was divided from Spirit and darkness from Light.
Voltaire

Ice-cream is exquisite - what a pity it isn't illegal.
Voltaire

If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.
Voltaire

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

If the bookseller happens to desire a privilege for his merchandise, whether he is selling Rabelais or the Fathers of the Church, the magistrate grants the privilege without answering for the contents of the book.
Voltaire

If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him.
Voltaire

If we do not find anything pleasant, at least we shall find something new.
Voltaire

Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
Voltaire

In every author let us distinguish the man from his works.
Voltaire

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.
Voltaire

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