All Quotes, Voltaire

50 Voltaire Quotes

François-Marie Arouet known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his criticism of Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic Church, as well as his advocacy of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.

Voltaire was a versatile and prolific 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. This is a collection of the 50 most amazing Voltaire quotes and sayings.

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. - Voltaire
Clever tyrants are never punished. - Voltaire
Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes. - Voltaire
Tears are the silent language of grief. - Voltaire
Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause. - Voltaire
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Ice-cream is exquisite - what a pity it isn't illegal. - Voltaire
Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts. - Voltaire
When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion. - Voltaire
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination. - Voltaire
By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property. - Voltaire
Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels. - Voltaire
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. - Voltaire
Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world. - Voltaire
No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. - Voltaire
Illusion is the first of all pleasures. - Voltaire
Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. - Voltaire
The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself. - Voltaire
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one. - Voltaire
Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die. - Voltaire
The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it. - Voltaire
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature. - Voltaire
It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind. - Voltaire
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors. - Voltaire
Paradise was made for tender hearts; hell, for loveless hearts. - Voltaire
Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination. - Voltaire
The multitude of books is making us ignorant. - Voltaire
The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs. - Voltaire
Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. - Voltaire
The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs. - Voltaire
Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him. - Voltaire
Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity. - Voltaire
A witty saying proves nothing. - Voltaire
God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best. - Voltaire
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. - Voltaire
Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient. - Voltaire
We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard. - 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
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
It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce. - Voltaire
Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce. - Voltaire
All men are born with a nose and five fingers, but no one is born with a knowledge of God. - Voltaire
Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes. - Voltaire
Our country is that spot to which our heart is bound. - Voltaire
What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous. - Voltaire
All styles are good except the tiresome kind. - Voltaire
He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it. - Voltaire
Fear follows crime and is its punishment. - Voltaire
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