284 quotes
On parle toujours mal quand on n'a rien à dire.
If there were only one religion in England there would be danger of despotism, if there were two they would cut each other's throats, but there are thirty, and they live in peace and happiness.
If there are atheists, whom must one blame if not the mercenary tyrants of souls, who, making us revolt against their knaveries, force a few weak minds to deny the God whom these monsters dishonour?
Philosophical Dictionary (1764)
Love is of all the passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart, and the body.
Such then is the human condition, that to wish greatness for one's country is to wish harm to one's neighbors.
Dictionnaire philosophique portatif (1764)
It is sad that often, to be a good patriot, one must be the enemy of the rest of mankind.
Dictionnaire philosophique portatif (1764)
Men will always be mad, and those who think they can cure them are the maddest of all.
Every sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the Christian sect in horror.
To pray to God is to flatter oneself that with words one can alter nature.
If you want good laws, burn those you have and make new ones.
Dictionnaire philosophique portatif (1764)
Thou sleepest, Brutus, and yet Rome is in chains.
To be at peace in crime! ah, who can thus flatter himself.
He who thinks himself wise, O heavens! is a great fool.
A single part of physics occupies the lives of many men, and often leaves them dying in uncertainty.
Nothing is so common as to imitate one's enemies, and to use their weapons.
Questions sur l'Encyclopédie (1770)
Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.
Whatever you do, crush the infamous thing, and love those who love you.
His reputation will go on increasing because scarcely anyone reads him.
Dictionnaire philosophique portatif (1764)
Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.
Dictionnaire philosophique (1785)