Voltaire Quotes
Quotes

From Voltaire's Letters concerning the English nation. 1733

"They are, all of them, born with raging fanaticism in their hearts, just as the Bretons and the Germans are born with blond hair. I would not be in the least bit surprised if these people would not some day become deadly to the human race."--Voltaire as quoted in A.Gould, What Did They Think of The Jews?, Jason Aronson Inc., New Jersey, (1991), p. 90. Gould cites: "Voltaire, Lettres de Memmius a Ciceron, 1771, in The French Enlightenment, p.300"

"To write is to wage war"  ...Voltaire

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. ---Voltaire

"Truth is a fruit that can only be picked when it is very ripe."--Voltaire

The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease. ~ Voltaire, French Philosopher (1694-1778)

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.---- Voltaire

 I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. --Voltaire

Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts. --Voltaire

It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong. --Voltaire

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

The best way to become boring is to say everything. --Voltaire

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers. --Voltaire

All history is little else than a long succession of useless cruelties. --Voltaire

England has forty-two religions and only two sauces. --Voltaire

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short on: "O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it. --Voltaire

Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies. --Voltaire

If you have two religions in your land, the two will cut each other's throats; but if you have thirty religions, they will dwell in peace. --Voltaire

Common sense is not so common. --Voltaire

The biggest reward for a thing well done is to have done it. --Voltaire

A multitude of laws in a country is like a great number of physicians, a sign of weakness and malady. --Voltaire

Prejudice is the reason of fools. --Voltaire

Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time. --Voltaire

To hold a pen is to be at war. --Voltaire

What is not in nature can never be true. --Voltaire

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. --Voltaire

If we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities. --Voltaire

The only way to compel men to speak good of us is to do it. --Voltaire

Chance is a word void of sense, nothing can exist without a cause. --Voltaire

When its a question of money, everybody is of the same religion. --Voltaire

Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.  --Voltaire

A witty saying proves nothing.  --Voltaire

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.  --Voltaire

The best is the enemy of the good.  --Voltaire

The road to the heart is the ear.  --Voltaire

One owes respect to the living, to the dead one owes only truth.  --Voltaire

I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.  --Voltaire

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

Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.  --Voltaire

If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new.  --Voltaire

It is with books as with men - a very small number play a great part, the rest are lost in the multitude.  --Voltaire

All men are equal; it is not birth, but virtue alone, that makes the difference.  --Voltaire

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.  --Voltaire

I envy the animals' two things: their ignorance of evil to come, and their ignorance of what is said about them.  --Voltaire

Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.  --Voltaire

I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms. --Voltaire

As Voltaire said, "The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by Infinity is to contemplate the extent of human stupidity."