Voltaire

“This discourse gave rise to new reflections, and Martin especially concluded that man was born to live either in a state of…

— Voltaire

It is the poverty connected with our species which subordinates one man to another. It is not inequality which is the real…

— Voltaire

But there must be some pleasure in condemning everything--in perceiving faults where others think they see beauties.' 'You mean there is pleasure…

— Voltaire

Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy: the mad daughter of a wise mother

— Voltaire

I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

The Jews are of all peoples the grosses, the most ferocious, the most fanatical, and the most absurd.

— Voltaire

I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil.

— Voltaire

How inexpressible is the meanness of being a hypocrite! how horrible is it to be a mischievous and malignant hypocrite.

— Voltaire

What can you say to a man who tells you he prefers obeying God rather than men, and that as a result…

— Voltaire

The man visited by ecstasies and visions, who takes dreams for realities is an enthusiast; the man who supports his madness with…

— Voltaire

Inspiration: A peculiar effect of divine flatulence emitted by the Holy Spirit which hisses into the ears of a few chosen of…

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

Changing a habit is hard work. But it's harder to find work that would be more fulfilling

— Voltaire

What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each…

— Voltaire

There are two things for which animals are to be envied: they know nothing of future evils, or of what people say…

— Voltaire

We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongues, at our peril, risk and hazard.

— Voltaire

If you wish to obtain a great name or to found an establishment, be completely mad; but be sure that your madness…

— Voltaire

When his highness sends a ship to Egypt, does he trouble his head whether the mice on board are at their ease…

— Voltaire

Ask a toad what is beauty…; he will answer that it is a female with two great round eyes coming out of…

— Voltaire

Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives; very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas…

— Voltaire

“And to every man has been assigned a good and an evil angel; one assisting him and the other annoying him, from…

— Voltaire

“Self love is like that instrument by which we propagate the species: it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives…

— Voltaire

“Irregularity is inherent in our very nature; expecting people to be perfectly wise is as crazy as putting wings on dogs or…

— Voltaire

The monster, fanaticism, still exists, and whoever seeks after truth will run the risk of being persecuted.

— Voltaire

He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.

— Voltaire

The multiplicity of facts and writings is become so great that every thing must soon be reduced to extracts and dictionaries.

— Voltaire

In my life, I have prayed but one prayer: oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it.

— Voltaire

“He then represented to himself the human species, as it really is, as a parcel of insects devouring one another on a…

— Voltaire

“Everywhere the weak execrate the powerful, before whom they cringe; and the powerful beat them like sheep whose wool and flesh they…

— Voltaire

A minister of state is excusable for the harm he does when the helm of government has forced his hand in a…

— Voltaire

You have no control over the hand that life deals you, but how you play that hand is entirely up to you.

— Voltaire

Once your faith persuades you to believe what your intelligence declares absurd, beware, lest you likewise sacrifice your reason in the conduct…

— Voltaire

If there had been a censorship of the press in Rome we should have had today neither Horace nor Juvenal, nor the…

— Voltaire

If we do not exert the right of eating our neighbor, it is because we have other means of making good cheer

— Voltaire

Twenty-volume folios will never make a revolution. It’s the little pocket pamphlets that are to be feared.

— Voltaire

Pleasantry is never good on serious points, because it always regards subjects in that point of view in which it is not…

— Voltaire

The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by Infinity is to contemplate the extent of human stupidity.

— Voltaire

As you know, the Inquisition is an admirable and wholly Christian invention to make the pope and the monks more powerful and…

— Voltaire

It is love; love, the comfort of the human species, the preserver of the universe, the soul of all sentient beings, love,…

— Voltaire