Quotes by "Voltaire"

L'homme est libre au moment qu'il veut l'être.

It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.

The discovery of what is true and the practice of that which is good are the two most important aims of philosophy.

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

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

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

It is said that God is always on the side of the big battalions.

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.

If God did not exist, He would have to be invented. But all nature cries aloud that he does exist: that there is a supreme intelligence, an immense power, an admirable order, and everything teaches us our own dependence on it.

Morality is everywhere the same for all men, therefore it comes from God; sects differ, therefore they are the work of men.

Insipid writer, you pretend to draw for your readers The portraits of your 3 impostors; How is it that, witlessly, you have become the fourth? Why, poor enemy of the supreme essence, Do you confuse Mohammed and the Creator, And the deeds of man with God, his author?... Criticize the servant, but respect the master. God should not suffer for the stupidity of the priest: Let us recognize this God, although he is poorly served. My lodging is filled with lizards and rats; But the architect exists, and anyone who denies it Is touched with madness under the guise of wisdom. Consult Zoroaster, and Minos, and Solon, And the martyr Socrates, and the great Cicero: They all adored a master, a judge, a father. This sublime system is necessary to man. It is the sacred tie that binds society, The first foundation of holy equity, The bridle to the wicked, the hope of the just. If the heavens, stripped of his noble imprint, Could ever cease to attest to his being, If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. Let the wise man announce him and kings fear him. Kings, if you oppress me, if your eminencies disdain The tears of the innocent that you cause to flow, My avenger is in the heavens: learn to tremble. Such, at least, is the fruit of a useful creed.

Love truth, but pardon error.

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

There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.

on doit des égards aux vivants, on ne doit aux morts que la vérité.

He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.

Wisdom must yield to superstition's rules, Who arms with bigot zeal the hand of fools.

You despise books; you whose lives are absorbed in the vanities of ambition, the pursuit of pleasure or indolence; but remember that all the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books.

The more often a stupidity is repeated, the more it gets the appearance of wisdom.

The heart has its own reasons that reason can't understand.