I keep to old books, for they teach me something; from the new I learn very little. — Voltaire Copy Share Image
“The only reward to be expected from the cultivation of literature is contempt if one fails and and hatred if one succeeds.” — Voltaire Copy Share Image
The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing. — Voltaire Copy Share Image
I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil. — Voltaire Copy Share Image
It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books. — Voltaire Copy Share Image
It is with books as with men: a very small number play a great part, the rest are lost in the multitude. — Voltaire Copy Share Image
If the bookseller happens to desire a privilege for his merchandise, whether he is selling Rabelais or the Fathers of the Church,… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
It is with books as with the fires of our grates, everybody borrows a light from his neighbor to kindle his own,… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
“What we find in books is like the fire in our hearths. We fetch it from our neighbors, we kindle it at… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed from one another. The instruction we find in books is like… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
“You despise books; you whose lives are absorbed in the vanities of ambition, the pursuit of pleasure or indolence; but remember that… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
“What is the verdict of the vastest mind? Silence: the book of fate is closed to us. Man is a stranger to… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
It is reported in the supplement of the council of Nicæan that the fathers, being very perplexed to know which were the… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
“I have received your new book against the human race, and thank you for it. Never was such a cleverness used in… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
“Martin, perceiving some shelves filled with English books, said to the senator, “I fancy that a republican must be highly delighted with… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
All the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books. — Voltaire Copy Share Image
The only reward to be expected from literature is contempt if one fails and hatred if one succeeds. — Voltaire Copy Share Image
Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
I never approved either the errors of his book, or the trivial truths he so vigorously laid down. I have, however, stoutly… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
In every province, the chief occupations, in order of importance, are lovemaking, malicious gossip, and talking nonsense. — Voltaire Copy Share Image
Fanaticism, to which men are so much inclined, has always served not only to render them more brutalized but more wicked. — Voltaire Copy Share Image
It is with books as with men: a very small number play a great part, the rest are lost in the multitude. — Voltaire Copy Share Image
Meslier was the most singular phenomenon ever seen among all the meteors fatal to the Christian religion. — Voltaire Copy Share Image
Every sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the Christian sect in horror." "Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion… — Voltaire Copy Share Image
Being unable to make people more reasonable, I preferred to be happy away from them — Voltaire Copy Share Image
When his highness sends a ship to Egypt, does he trouble his head whether the mice on board are at their ease or not? — Voltaire Copy Share Image
Madness is to think of too many things in succession too fast, or of one thing too exclusively. — Voltaire Copy Share Image
God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well. — Voltaire Copy Share Image
