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Voltaire Quotes
1694–1778 France
François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), most famous under his pen name Voltaire, was a French writer, deist and philosopher. Voltaire established himself as one of the leading writers of the enlightenment.
France Academics Essayists Historians Memoirists Also known as: François Marie Arouet de Voltaire, François-Marie Arouet, Philosophical Dictionary
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284 quotes
Life is bristling with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to cultivate one's garden.
The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.
We must distinguish between speaking to deceive and being silent to be reserved.
Religion may be purified. This great work was begun two hundred years ago: but men can only bear light to come in upon them by degrees.
To them it seemed that the gifts of an enemy were to be dreaded.
He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad.
Epître au Roi de Prusse (1740)
I wish that you would crush this infamy.
The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.
If I had had more time, this letter would have been shorter.
Of all religions, Christianity ought doubtless to inspire the most toleration, although hitherto the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.
Society therefore is as ancient as the world.
It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.
All mortals are equal; it is not their birth,
We should be considerate to the living; to the dead we owe only the truth.
Your destiny is that of a man, and your vows those of a god.
Nature has always had more force than education.
Call them if you please bookmakers, not authors; range them rather among second-hand dealers than plagiarists.
Atheism is the vice of a few intelligent persons, and superstition is the vice of fools.
Philosophical Dictionary (1764)
Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors.
Dictionnaire philosophique (1764)
One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.
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