But nothing is more estimable than a physician who, having studied nature from his youth, knows the properties of the human body, the diseases which assail it, the remedies which will benefit it, exercises his art with caution, and pays equal attention to the rich and the poor.
VoltaireWhat will the preachers say? .. to teach men not to persecute men: for, while a few sanctimonious humbugs are burning a few fanatics, the earth opens and swallows up all alike.
VoltaireOur wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
VoltaireThe question of good and evil remains in irremediable chaos for those who seek to fathom it in reality. It is mere mental sport to the disputants, who are captives that play with their chains.
VoltaireIf God did not exist, He would have to be invented. But all nature cries aloud that he does exist: that there is a supreme intelligence, an immense power, an admirable order, and everything teaches us our own dependence on it.
VoltaireIt is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
VoltaireI am a little deaf, a little blind, a little important and on top of this are two or three abominable infirmities, but nothing destroys my hope.
VoltaireI envy animals for two things - their ignorance of evil to come, and their ignorance of what is said about them.
VoltaireThe man visited by ecstasies and visions, who takes dreams for realities is an enthusiast; the man who supports his madness with murder is a fanatic.
VoltaireThere's scarce a point whereon mankind agree - So well as in their boast of killing me; I boast of nothing, but when I've a mind - I think I can be even with mankind
VoltaireA physician is an unfortunate gentleman who is every day required to perform a miracle; namely to reconcile health with intemperance.
VoltaireDescartes constructed as noble a road of science, from the point at which he found geometry to that to which he carried it, as Newton himself did after him. ... He carried this spirit of geometry and invention into optics, which under him became a completely new art.
VoltaireBefore receiving your instruction, I must tell you what happened to me one day. I had just had a closet built at the end of my garden. I heard a mole arguing with a cockchafer; 'Here's a fine structure,' said the mole, 'it must have been a very powerful mole who did this work.' 'You're joking,' said the cockchafer; 'it's a cockchafer full of genius who is the architect of this building.' From that moment I resolved never to argue.
VoltaireAll sects are different, because they come from men; morality is everywhere the same, because it comes from God.
VoltaireThe necessity of saying something, the embarrassment produced by the consciousness of having nothing to say, and the desire to exhibit ability, are three things sufficient to render even a great man ridiculous.
Voltaire