Voltaire

The more a man knows, the less he talks.

— Voltaire

Love truth, but pardon error.

— Voltaire

Now, now my good man, this is no time for making enemies.

— Voltaire

Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one.

— Voltaire

When men do not have healthy notions of the Divinity, false ideas supplant them, just as in bad times one uses counterfeit money when there is no good money.

— Voltaire

The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.

— Voltaire

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.

— Voltaire

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

— Voltaire

God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.

— Voltaire

If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.

— Voltaire

Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.

— Voltaire

To hold a pen is to be at war.

— Voltaire

What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.

— Voltaire

Paradise was made for tender hearts; hell, for loveless hearts.

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.

— Voltaire

Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce.

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

Common sense is not so common.

— Voltaire

One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.

— Voltaire

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

— Voltaire

Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.

— Voltaire

The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood.

— Voltaire

Man is free at the instant he wants to be.

— Voltaire

Stupid is the man who always remains the same.

— Voltaire

Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.

— Voltaire

The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us

— Voltaire

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.

— Voltaire

The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.

— Voltaire

The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.

— Voltaire

When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.

— Voltaire

It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.

— Voltaire

Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.

— Voltaire

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.

— Voltaire

The best is the enemy of the good.

— Voltaire

The ear is the avenue to the heart.

— Voltaire

A witty saying proves nothing.

— Voltaire

Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.

— Voltaire

It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.

— Voltaire

I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.

— Voltaire

The superfluous, a very necessary thing.

— Voltaire

What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.

— Voltaire

Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.

— Voltaire

We must cultivate our own garden. When man was put in the garden of Eden he was put there so that he should work, which proves that man was not born to rest.

— Voltaire

To think too much is a disease.

— Voltaire

Dare to think for yourself.

— Voltaire

Life is thickly sown with thorns. I know no other remedy than to pass rapidly over them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes the greater is their power to harm us.

— Voltaire

Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives and few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time.

— Voltaire

If there were no priests, people would be more religious.

— Voltaire

He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it.

— Voltaire

Ice-cream is exquisite - what a pity it isn't illegal.

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

Tears are the silent language of grief.

— Voltaire

Everything's fine today, that is our illusion.

— Voltaire

Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.

— Voltaire

History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.

— Voltaire

Clever tyrants are never punished.

— Voltaire

Let us work without theorizing, tis the only way to make life endurable.

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.

— Voltaire

Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

We are rarely proud when we are alone.

— Voltaire

Better is the enemy of good.

— Voltaire

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.

— Voltaire

Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.

— Voltaire

It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.

— Voltaire

Opinions have caused more ills than the plague or earthquakes on this little globe of ours.

— Voltaire

The most courageous decision that you can make each day is to be in a good mood.

— Voltaire