Quotes by Voltaire

Men use thought only to justify their wrongdoings and speech only to conceal their thoughts.

There are truths that are not for all men nor for all times.

You (Pindar) who possessed the talent of speaking much without saying anything.

Work banishes those three great evils boredom vice and poverty.

Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.

Can you really believe that a drop of urine is an infinity of monads, and that each of these has ideas, however obscure, of the universe as a whole?

To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.

To hold a pen is to be at war.

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

The ear is the avenue to the heart.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.

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

What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error let us pardon reciprocally each others folly - that is the first law of nature.

We are all full of weakness and errors let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.

It is vain for the coward to flee death follows close behind it is only by defying it that the brave escape.

The safest course is to do nothing against ones conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.

Common sense is not so common.

The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in.

Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.