Famous Voltaire Quotations

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"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him."
by Voltaire
"If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated."
by Voltaire
"He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise."
by Voltaire
"It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue."
by Voltaire
"It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong."
by Voltaire
"Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too."
by Voltaire
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
by Voltaire
"A witty saying proves nothing."
by Voltaire
"Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers."
by Voltaire
"Jesus wept; Voltaire smiled. From that divine tear and from that human smile is derived the grace of present civilization."
by Victor Hugo
"Prejudices are what fools use for reason."
by Voltaire
"It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge."
by Voltaire
"The best is the enemy of the good."
by Francis M. Voltaire
"One great use of words is to hide our thoughts."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times."
by Francis M. Voltaire
"Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"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."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Better is the enemy of good."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"To hold a pen is to be at war."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce."
by Francis M. Voltaire
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts."
by Francis M. Francis M. Voltaire
"Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Doubt is uncomfortable, certainty is ridiculous."
by Francis M. Voltaire
"As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities."
by Voltaire
"No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking."
by Voltaire
"I believe that there never was a creator of a philosophical system who did not confess at the end of his life that he had wasted his time. It must be admitted that the inventors of the mechanical arts have been much more useful to men that the inventors of syllogisms. He who imagined a ship towers considerably above him who imagined innate ideas."
by Voltaire
"Tears are the silent language of grief."
by Voltaire
"It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books."
by Voltaire
"The superfluous is very necessary."
by Voltaire
"Common sense is not so common."
by Voltaire
"Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause."
by Voltaire
"By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property."
by Voltaire
"Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world."
by Voltaire
"I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms."
by Voltaire
"To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it."
by Voltaire
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
by Voltaire
"God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere."
by Voltaire
"Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die."
by Voltaire
"Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him."
by Voltaire
"Men argue, Nature acts."
by Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
"'Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills."
by Voltaire
"We cannot always oblige; but we can always speak obligingly."
by Voltaire
"We are rarely proud when we are alone."
by Voltaire
"The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great."
by Voltaire
"The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself."
by Voltaire
"The history of human opinion is scarcely anything more than the history of human errors."
by Voltaire
"'That is indisputable,' was the answer, 'but in this country it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.'"
by Voltaire
"[Optimism is] the obstinacy of maintaining that everything is best when it is worst."
by Voltaire
"...the safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death."
by Voltaire
"A clergyman is one who feels himself called upon to live without working at the expense of the rascals who work to live."
by Voltaire
"A multitude of laws in a country is like a great number of physicians, a sign of weakness and malady."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"A witty saying proves nothing"
by Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
"After my recent brush with voicelessness, I thought I'd share with you a few thoughts about speech. Don't take it lightly my friends. If music is the pathway to the heart as Voltaire suggested, then speech is the pathway to other people. Live in silence and you live alone."
by Henry Bromel
"All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"All is for the best in the best of all possible ways."
by Voltaire
"All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."
by Voltaire
"All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God."
by Voltaire
"All styles are good except the tiresome kind."
by Voltaire
"All sects are different, because they come from men; morality is everywhere the same, because it comes from God."
by Voltaire
"All sects are different, because they come from men morality is everywhere the same, because it comes from God."
by Voltaire
"All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women."
by Voltaire
"An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination."
by Voltaire
"Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills."
by Voltaire
"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices."
by Voltaire
"Anything too stupid to be said is sung."
by Voltaire
"Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung"
by Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
"Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel."
by Voltaire
"Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well"
by Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
"Appreciation is a wonderful thing It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well."
by Voltaire
"As long as there are fools and rascals, there will be religions."
by Voltaire
"As long as people believe in absurdities, they will continue to commit atrocities."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Business is the salt of life."
by Voltaire
"Canada: A few acres of snow."
by Voltaire
"Change everything except your loves."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Clever tyrants are never punished."
by Voltaire
"Dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres. (In this country England it is thought well to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others. from Candide)"
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient."
by 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."
by Voltaire
"Doubt is not a pleasant state of mind, but certainty is absurd."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is an absurd one."
by Voltaire
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition but certainty is an absurd one."
by Voltaire
"Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game."
by Voltaire
"England has forty-two religions and only two sauces."
by Voltaire
"Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do."
by Voltaire
"Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest."
by Voltaire
"Everything's fine today, that is our illusion."
by Voltaire
"Fear follows crime and is its punishment."
by Voltaire
"Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent."
by Voltaire
"God created sex. Priests created marriage."
by Voltaire
"God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well."
by Voltaire
"God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best."
by Voltaire
"God is always on the side of the big battalions."
by Voltaire
"God is a comic playing to an audience that's afraid to laugh."
by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire


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