Quotes By Voltaire

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

What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.

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

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

Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.

We must cultivate our own garden. When man was put in the garden of Eden he was put there so that he should work, which proves that man was not born to rest.

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

Clever tyrants are never punished.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare.

When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.

It is the flash which appears, the thunderbolt will follow.

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.

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

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

We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.

History should be written as philosophy.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

We cannot wish for that we know not.

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

We cannot always oblige; but we can always speak obligingly.

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

It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.

Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.

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

Let us work without theorizing, tis the only way to make life endurable.

The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry always gets the best of the argument.