 |
Adventure
|
|
If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Age
|
|
|
Every man is the creature of the age in which he lives; very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Ancestry, Ancestors
|
|
|
Do well and you will have no need for ancestors.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Angels
|
|
|
It is not known precisely where angels dwell -- whether in the air, the void, or the planets. It has not been God's pleasure that we should be informed of their abode.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Animals
|
|
|
Animals have these advantages over man: They have no theologians to instruct them, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Appreciation
|
|
|
By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Argument & Debate
|
|
|
A long dispute means that both parties are wrong
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
Men argue, nature acts.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
Weakness on both sides is, the motto of all quarrels.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Assumptions
|
|
|
Let us work without theorizing, 'Tis the only way to make life endurable.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Authors & Writing
|
|
|
You can never correct your work well until you have forgotten it.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Boredom
|
|
|
All kinds are good except the kind that bores you.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Bravery
|
|
|
He who dies before many witnesses always does so with courage.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Certainty
|
|
|
Doubt is not a pleasant mental state, but certainty is a ridiculous one.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Character
|
|
|
The only way to compel men to speak good of us is to do it.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Common Sense
|
|
|
Common sense is not so common.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Conformity & Nonconformity
|
|
|
Our 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.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Conversation
|
|
|
A witty saying proves nothing.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Cowardice/Weakness
|
|
|
One of the chief misfortunes of honest people is that they are cowardly.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Creation
|
|
|
The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Crying
|
|
|
Tears are the silent language of grief.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Death
|
|
|
To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Deception/Lying
|
|
|
I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Divorce
|
|
|
Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Doctors
|
|
|
Doctors are men who prescribe medicines of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of whom they know nothing.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
Men who are occupied in the restoration of health to other men, by the joint exertion of skill and humanity, are above all the great of the earth. They even partake of divinity, since to preserve and renew is almost as noble as to create.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
I know of nothing more laughable than a doctor who does not die of old age.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Doubt
|
|
|
Doubt is uncomfortable, certainty is ridiculous.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Enemy, Enemies
|
|
|
In my life, I have prayed but one prayer: oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Equality
|
|
|
All people are equal, it is not birth, it is virtue alone that makes the difference.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Evil
|
|
|
As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
You must have the devil in you to succeed in the arts.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Exaggeration
|
|
|
Exaggeration is the inseparable companion of greatness.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Excellence
|
|
|
The best is the enemy of the good.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Fame
|
|
|
What a heavy burden is a name that has become famous too soon.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Fanaticism
|
|
|
The 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.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet), Fanaticism, 1764
|
|
Fashion
|
|
|
It is new fancy rather than taste which produces so many new fashions.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet), Philosophical Dictionary, 1764
|
|
Fate & Destiny
|
|
|
Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Freedom
|
|
|
It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
Liberty, then, about which so many volumes have been written is, when accurately defined, only the power of acting.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
The true character of liberty is independence, maintained by force.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Friends
|
|
|
May God defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
God
|
|
|
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
God is a comic, playing to an audience that's afraid to laugh.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Government
|
|
|
Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Greed
|
|
|
Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Guilt
|
|
|
Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
History
|
|
|
History is only the pattern of silken slippers descending the stairs to the thunder of hobnailed boots climbing upward from below.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
History is nothing but a pack of tricks that we play upon the dead.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
History is just the portrayal of crimes and misfortunes.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Honesty
|
|
|
The great consolation in life is to say what one thinks.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Hope
|
|
|
I am a little deaf, a little blind, a little impotent, and on top of this are two or three abominable infirmities, but nothing destroys my hope.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Imagination
|
|
|
I believe that there never was a creator of a philosophical system who did not confess at the end of his life that he had wasted his time. It must be admitted that the inventors of the mechanical arts have been much more useful to men that the inventors of syllogisms. He who imagined a ship towers considerably above him who imagined innate ideas.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Innovation
|
|
|
Originality is nothing but judicious plagiarism.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Law
|
|
|
I was never ruined but twice; once when I lost a lawsuit and once when I won one.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Laziness
|
|
|
Shun idleness is the rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Life
|
|
|
We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
My life is a battle.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Literary
|
|
|
'That is indisputable,' was the answer, 'but in this country it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.'
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet), Candide
|
|
Love
|
|
|
Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Manners
|
|
|
We cannot always oblige; but we can always speak obligingly.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Marriage
|
|
|
Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Medicine
|
|
|
The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Mistakes
|
|
|
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies it is the first law of nature.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Money
|
|
|
When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Multiculturalism
|
|
|
If there were only one religion in England there would be danger of despotism, if there were two, they would cut each other's throats, but there are thirty, and they live in peace and happiness.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Nation, Nationality, Nationalism
|
|
|
How I like the boldness of the English, how I like the people who say what they think!
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Necessity
|
|
|
The superfluous is very necessary.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
News
|
|
|
In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Opinion
|
|
|
The history of human opinion is scarcely anything more than the history of human errors.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Passion
|
|
|
Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Patience
|
|
|
Perfection is attained by slow degrees; she requires the hand of time.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
People
|
|
|
The public is a ferocious beast. One must either chain it up or flee from it.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Philosophy
|
|
|
The pursuit of what is true and the practice of what is good are the two most important objects of philosophy.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
When he who hears does not know what he who speaks means, and when he who speaks does not know what he himself means, that is philosophy.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
Four thousand volumes of metaphysics will not teach us what the soul is.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
When he to whom a person speaks does not understand, and he who speaks does not understand himself, that is metaphysics.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Pleasure
|
|
|
Pleasure is the object, duty and the goal of all rational creatures.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
Work is often the father of pleasure.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Poetry
|
|
|
It is as impossible to translate poetry as it is to translate music.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
Verses which do not teach men new and moving truths do not deserve to be read.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
This poem will never reach its destination. On Rousseau's Ode To Posterity
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Practice
|
|
|
The discover of what is true, and the practice of that which is good, are the two most important objects of philosophy.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Prayer
|
|
|
My prayer to God is a very short one: O Lord, make my enemies look ridiculous! God has granted it.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Prejudice
|
|
|
Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Pride
|
|
|
The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Problems
|
|
|
No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Punishment
|
|
|
The punishment of criminals should serve a purpose. When a man is hanged he is useless.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Questions
|
|
|
Judge a person by their questions, rather than their answers.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Reading
|
|
|
All the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Reason
|
|
|
Many are destined to reason wrongly; others, not to reason at all; and others, to persecute those who do reason.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Reform, Correction
|
|
|
Every abuse ought to be reformed, unless the reform is more dangerous than the abuse itself.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Relaxation
|
|
|
Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Religion
|
|
|
The Pope is an idol whose hands are tied and whose feet are kissed.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Respect
|
|
|
We owe respect to the living. To the dead we owe only truth.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Retirement
|
|
|
I advise you to go on living solely to enrage those who are paying your annuities. It is the only pleasure I have left.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Revolution
|
|
|
Independence in the end is the fruit of injustice.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Satire
|
|
|
Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die.
French: La satire ment sur les gens de lettres pendant leur vie, et l'eloge ment apres leur mort.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet), Lettre a Bordes
|
|
Self-love
|
|
|
Self-love is the instrument of our preservation.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
It is not love that should be depicted as blind, but self-love.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Serenity
|
|
|
Paradise is Where I Am.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Service
|
|
|
I know of no great man except those who have rendered great services to the human race.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Sex
|
|
|
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.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Shyness
|
|
|
It is only through timidity that states are lost.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Singing
|
|
|
Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Solitude
|
|
|
We are rarely proud when we are alone.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet), Philosophical Dictionary, 1764
|
|
Speech (freedom of)
|
|
|
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Spirituality
|
|
|
He who doesn't have the spirit of his time, has all its misery.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Superstition
|
|
|
Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy; the mad daughter of a wise mother.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
I die adoring God,loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Surprise
|
|
|
The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Taxation
|
|
|
In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Thought
|
|
|
They use thought only to justify their injustices, and speech only to disguise their thoughts.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Translation
|
|
|
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.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Truth
|
|
|
To announce truths is an infallible receipt for being persecuted.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
Truth is a fruit which should not be plucked until it is ripe.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Understanding
|
|
|
When one man speaks to another man who doesn't understand him, and when the man who's speaking no longer understands, it's metaphysics.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet), Candide, 1759
|
|
Virtue
|
|
|
Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Wisdom
|
|
|
He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
Work
|
|
|
Work keeps at bay, three great evils -- boredom, vice and need.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
|
|
Work banishes those three great evils: boredom, vice and poverty.
-Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
|
Books by and about Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
