Quotes By Voltaire

Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.

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

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.

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

Love has features which pierce all hearts, he wears a bandage which conceals the faults of those beloved. He has wings, he comes quickly and flies away the same.

The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days.

The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs.

Common sense is not so common.

It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.

What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.

Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.

To hold a pen is to be at war.

The secret of being a bore... is to tell everything.

One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.

In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.

A witty saying proves nothing.

The ear is the avenue to the heart.

The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.

Prejudices are what fools use for reason.

The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in.

Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.

I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms.

Nature has always had more force than education.

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

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

Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors.

The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence.

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

The public is a ferocious beast; one must either chain it or flee from it.

The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.