Quotes By Voltaire

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.

Injustice in the end produces independence.

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

The little may contrast with the great, in painting, but cannot be said to be contrary to it. Oppositions of colors contrast; but there are also colors contrary to each other, that is, which produce an ill effect because they shock the eye when brought very near it.

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

An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.

It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.

Woe to the makers of literal translations, who by rendering every word weaken the meaning! It is indeed by so doing that we can say the letter kills and the spirit gives life.

Very often, say what you will, a knave is only a fool.

It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape.

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

The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.

I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow.

The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.

There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.

This self-love is the instrument of our preservation; it resembles the provision for the perpetuity of mankind: it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives us pleasure, and we must conceal it.

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

To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.

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

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

Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time.

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

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.

We are rarely proud when we are alone.

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

Do well and you will have no need for ancestors.

The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.

Illusion is the first of all pleasures.

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.

Everything's fine today, that is our illusion.