Voltaire Quotes

Discord is the great ill of mankind; and tolerance is the only remedy for it.

Time is man's most precious asset. All men neglect it; all regret the loss of it; nothing can be done without it.

The Pride of every Jew finds cause to believe that the cause of their down fall is not their detestable politics, or ignorance of social graces, but the raft of God. They believe it took a miracle to undo them.

The composition of a tragedy requires testicles.

The famous physician Dumoulin said when dying, 'I leave two great physicians behind me, simple food and pure water.'

Whatever you do, crush the infamous thing, and love those who love you.

How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child's board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted.

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

God created women only to tame men.

History consists of a series of accumulated imaginative inventions.

When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.

I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges, astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis, etc. It does not behoove us, who were only savages and barbarians when these Indians and Chinese peoples were civilized and learned, to dispute their antiquity.

Heaven made virtue; man, the appearance.

Those who think are excessively few; and those few do not set themselves to disturb the world.

Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels.

When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is Metaphysics.

True power and true politeness are above vanity.

Injustice in the end produces independence.

What is history? The lie that everyone agrees on.

Villains are undone by what is worst in them, heroes by what is best.

The right to free speech is more important than the content of the speech.

Common sense is both more rare and more desirable in leaders than mere intelligence.

Those who can be made to believe absurdities can be made to commit atrocities.

Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.

The institution of religion exists only to keep mankind in order, and to make men merit the goodness of God by their virtue. Everything in a religion which does not tend towards this goal must be considered foreign or dangerous.

Every beauty, when out of it's place, is a beauty no longer.

What would constitute useful history? That which should teach us our duties and our rights, without appearing to teach them.

Nothing could be smarter, more splendid, more brilliant, better drawn up than two armies. Trumpets, fifes, hautboys, drums, cannons, formed a harmony such as never been heard in hell.

Let us help one another to bear our burdens.

The son of God is the same as the son of man; the son of man is the same as the son of God. God, the father, is the same as Christ, the son; Christ, the son, is the same as God, the father. This language may appear confused to unbelievers, but Christians will readily understand it.

The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason.

There is an astonishing imagination, even in the science of mathematics. ... We repeat, there was far more imagination in the head of Archimedes than in that of Homer.

I would rather obey a fine lion, much stronger than myself, than two hundred rats of my own species.

Everyone places his good where he can and has as much of it as he can, in his own way.

If you want to kill Christianity you must abolish Sunday.

History in general is a collection of crimes, follies, and misfortunes among which we have now and then met with a few virtues, and some happy times.

What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity.

One day everything will be well, that is our hope. Everything's fine today, that is our illusion.

You will notice that in all disputes between Christians since the birth of the Church, Rome has always favored the doctrine which most completely subjugated the human mind and annihilated reason.

The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.

Every one should be his own physician. We ought to assist, and not to force nature. Eat with moderation...Nothing is good for the body but what we can digest. What medicine can procure digestion? Exercise. What will recruit strength? Sleep.

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

A lady of honor may be raped once, but it strengthens her virtue.

Learn to cultivate your own garden.

He who is involved in ecstasies and visions, who takes dreams for reality, and his own imagination for prophesy, is a fanatical novice of great hope and promise, and will soon advance to the higher stage and kill men for the love of God.

The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.

History is the lie commonly agreed upon.

To make a vow for life is to make oneself a slave.