Voltaire Quotes

Can you really believe that a drop of urine is an infinity of monads, and that each of these has ideas, however obscure, of the universe as a whole?
Voltaire
Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.
Voltaire
Work banishes those three great evils boredom vice and poverty.
Voltaire
You (Pindar) who possessed the talent of speaking much without saying anything.
Voltaire
There are truths that are not for all men nor for all times.
Voltaire
Men use thought only to justify their wrongdoings and speech only to conceal their thoughts.
Voltaire
Tears are the silent language of grief.
Voltaire
The secret of being tiresome is in telling everything.
Voltaire
I die adoring God loving my friends not hating my enemies and detesting superstition.
Voltaire
Never having been able to succeed in the world he took his revenge by speaking ill of it.
Voltaire
I disapprove of what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
Voltaire
I never was ruined but twice - once when I lost a lawsuit and once when I gained one.
Voltaire
Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?
Voltaire
Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. It is not enough that a thing be possible for it to be believed.
Voltaire
Many are destined to reason wrongly others not to reason at all: and others to persecute those who do reason.
Voltaire
Better is the enemy of the good.
Voltaire
The punishment of criminals should be of use when a man is hanged he is good for nothing.
Voltaire
Doubt is not a pleasant condition but certainty is.
Voltaire
The infinitely little have pride infinitely great.
Voltaire
God prefers bad verses recited with a pure heart to the finest verses chanted by the wicked.
Voltaire
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.
Voltaire
One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.
Voltaire
The discovery of what is true and the practice of that which is good are the two most important objects of philosophy.
Voltaire
Fear could never make a virtue.
Voltaire
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another. 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.
Voltaire
The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day and of doing good once in a year.
Voltaire
The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.
Voltaire
When we hear news we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.
Voltaire
We never live but we are always in the expectation of living.
Voltaire
Nature has always had more force than education.
Voltaire
Men argue nature acts.
Voltaire
Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. It is not enough that a thing be possible for it to be believed.
Voltaire
Many are destined to reason wrongly others not to reason at all: and others to persecute those who do reason.
Voltaire
Better is the enemy of the good.
Voltaire
The punishment of criminals should be of use when a man is hanged he is good for nothing.
Voltaire
Doubt is not a pleasant condition but certainty is.
Voltaire
The infinitely little have pride infinitely great.
Voltaire
God prefers bad verses recited with a pure heart to the finest verses chanted by the wicked.
Voltaire
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.
Voltaire
One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.
Voltaire
The discovery of what is true and the practice of that which is good are the two most important objects of philosophy.
Voltaire
Fear could never make a virtue.
Voltaire
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another. 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.
Voltaire
The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day and of doing good once in a year.
Voltaire
The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.
Voltaire
I disapprove of what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
Voltaire
When we hear news we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.
Voltaire
We never live but we are always in the expectation of living.
Voltaire
I never was ruined but twice - once when I lost a lawsuit and once when I gained one.
Voltaire
Nature has always had more force than education.
Voltaire
Men argue nature acts.
Voltaire
When it is a question of money everybody is of the same religion.
Voltaire
Doctors are men who prescribe medicines of which they know little to cure diseases of which they know less in human beings of whom they know nothing.
Voltaire
Luck is a word devoid of sense nothing can exist without a cause.
Voltaire
Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.
Voltaire
We never live but we are always in the expectation of living.
Voltaire
A good imitation is the most perfect originality.
Voltaire
History is just the portrayal of crimes and misfortunes.
Voltaire
Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
Voltaire
The fate of a nation has often depended on the good or bad digestion of a prime minister.
Voltaire