Voltaire
385 quotes
Biography
"Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world."
"Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers."
"Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats."
"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."
"God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well."
"The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing."
"Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game."
"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities."
"The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."
"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it."(Letter to Étienne Noël Damilaville, May 16, 1767)"
"God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh."
"Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day."
"God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere."
"Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste."
"The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood."
"The secret of being a bore is to tell everything."
"Faith consists in believing what reason cannot."
"Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it."
"We never live; we are always in the expectation of living."
"It is with books as with men: a very small number play a great part."
"I loved him as we always love for the first time; with idolatry and wild passion."
"It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster."
"Perfect is the enemy of good."
"It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge."
"He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked."