Voltaire Quotes And Sayings

François-Marie Arouet, known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets.

God Gave Us The Gift Of Life; It Is Up To Us To Give Ourselves The Gift Of Living Well.

Think For Yourselves And Let Others Enjoy The Privilege To Do So, Too.

Opinion Has Caused More Trouble On This Little Earth Than Plagues Or Earthquakes.

The True Triumph Of Reason Is That It Enables Us To Get Along With Those Who Do Not Possess It.

Who Serves His Country Well Has No Need Of Ancestors.

Froth At The Top, Dregs At Bottom, But The Middle Excellent.

He Who Has Not The Spirit Of This Age, Has All The Misery Of It.

What Then Do You Call Your Soul? What Idea Have You Of It? You Cannot Of Yourselves, Without Revelation, Admit The Existence Within You Of Anything But A Power Unknown To You Of Feeling And Thinking.

He Was A Great Patriot, A Humanitarian, A Loyal Friend; Provided, Of Course, He Really Is Dead.

It Is The Flash Which Appears, The Thunderbolt Will Follow.

The Ancients Recommended Us To Sacrifice To The Graces, But Milton Sacrificed To The Devil.

To Hold A Pen Is To Be At War.

The Sovereign Is Called A Tyrant Who Knows No Laws But His Caprice.

Men Hate The Individual Whom They Call Avaricious Only Because Nothing Can Be Gained From Him.

We Have A Natural Right To Make Use Of Our Pens As Of Our Tongue, At Our Peril, Risk And Hazard.

Tyrants Have Always Some Slight Shade Of Virtue; They Support The Laws Before Destroying Them.

Use, Do Not Abuse... Neither Abstinence Nor Excess Ever Renders Man Happy.

One Merit Of Poetry Few Persons Will Deny: It Says More And In Fewer Words Than Prose.

Our Country Is That Spot To Which Our Heart Is Bound.

He Is A Hard Man Who Is Only Just, And A Sad One Who Is Only Wise.

Satire Lies About Literary Men While They Live And Eulogy Lies About Them When They Die.

We Cannot Wish For That We Know Not.

What A Heavy Burden Is A Name That Has Become Too Famous.

Nothing Would Be More Tiresome Than Eating And Drinking If God Had Not Made Them A Pleasure As Well As A Necessity.

Common Sense Is Not So Common.

Weakness On Both Sides Is, As We Know, The Motto Of All Quarrels.

I Should Like To Lie At Your Feet And Die In Your Arms.

History Should Be Written As Philosophy.

Time, Which Alone Makes The Reputation Of Men, Ends By Making Their Defects Respectable.

Anyone Who Seeks To Destroy The Passions Instead Of Controlling Them Is Trying To Play The Angel.

I Am Very Fond Of Truth, But Not At All Of Martyrdom.

Indeed, History Is Nothing More Than A Tableau Of Crimes And Misfortunes.

The Best Government Is A Benevolent Tyranny Tempered By An Occasional Assassination.

Every Man Is Guilty Of All The Good He Did Not Do.

I Know Many Books Which Have Bored Their Readers, But I Know Of None Which Has Done Real Evil.

Doubt Is Not A Pleasant Condition, But Certainty Is Absurd.

The Holy Roman Empire Is Neither Holy, Nor Roman, Nor An Empire.

Fear Follows Crime And Is Its Punishment.

History Is Only The Register Of Crimes And Misfortunes.

He Shines In The Second Rank, Who Is Eclipsed In The First.

In Every Author Let Us Distinguish The Man From His Works.

Governments Need To Have Both Shepherds And Butchers.

Woe To The Makers Of Literal Translations, Who By Rendering Every Word Weaken The Meaning! It Is Indeed By So Doing That We Can Say The Letter Kills And The Spirit Gives Life.

Religion Was Instituted To Make Us Happy In This Life And In The Other. What Must We Do To Be Happy In The Life To Come? Be Just.

No Problem Can Withstand The Assault Of Sustained Thinking.

Love Has Features Which Pierce All Hearts, He Wears A Bandage Which Conceals The Faults Of Those Beloved. He Has Wings, He Comes Quickly And Flies Away The Same.

Wherever There Is A Settled Society, Religion Is Necessary; The Laws Cover Manifest Crimes, And Religion Covers Secret Crimes.

The Infinitely Little Have A Pride Infinitely Great.

Let The Punishments Of Criminals Be Useful. A Hanged Man Is Good For Nothing; A Man Condemned To Public Works Still Serves The Country, And Is A Living Lesson.

Divorce Is Probably Of Nearly The Same Date As Marriage. I Believe, However, That Marriage Is Some Weeks The More Ancient.