Quotes By Voltaire

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.

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

In this country it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.

The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs.

Common sense is not so common.

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

Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Nature has always had more force than education.

Prejudices are what fools use for reason.

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.

Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors.

Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors.

Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.

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.