Voltaire

VoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet (1694-1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his nom de plume M. de Voltaire, he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity — especially of the Roman Catholic Church — and of slavery.

Voltaire Quotes

Sensual pleasure passes and vanishes, but the friendship between us, the mutual confidence, the delight of the heart, the enchantment of the soul, these things do not perish and can never be destroyed.

—Voltaire

Sensual pleasure passes and vanishes, but the friendship between us, the mutual confidence, the delight of the heart, the enchantment of the soul, these things do not perish and can never be destroyed.

—Voltaire

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.

—Voltaire

Faith consists in believing what reason cannot.

—Voltaire

It is with books as with men: a very small number play a great part.

—Voltaire

Ice-cream is exquisite. What a pity it isn’t illegal.

—Voltaire

Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives and few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time.

—Voltaire

Let us cultivate our garden.

—Voltaire

Prejudices are what fools use for reason.

—Voltaire

If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?

—Voltaire

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it.”

—Voltaire

Common sense is not so common.

—Voltaire

Men will always be mad, and those who think they can cure them are the maddest of all.

—Voltaire

The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.

—Voltaire

Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one.

—Voltaire

Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.

—Voltaire

What is history? The lie that everyone agrees on.

—Voltaire

God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.

—Voltaire

Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.

—Voltaire

Dare to think for yourself.

—Voltaire

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

—Voltaire

God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh.

—Voltaire

It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one.

—Voltaire

Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it.

—Voltaire

Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

—Voltaire

The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood.

—Voltaire

The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us

—Voltaire

Optimism,” said Cacambo, “What is that?” “Alas!” replied Candide, “It is the obstinacy of maintaining that everything is best when it is worst.

—Voltaire

Martin in particular concluded that man was born to live either in the convulsions of misery, or in the lethargy of boredom.

—Voltaire

It is not inequality which is the real misfortune, it is dependence.

—Voltaire