Voltaire, pseudonym of François-Marie Arouet, (born November 21, 1694, Paris, France—died May 30, 1778, Paris), one of the greatest of all French writers. Although only a few of his works are still read, he continues to be held in worldwide repute as a courageous crusader against tyranny, bigotry, and cruelty.
Through its critical capacity, wit, and satire, Voltaire’s work vigorously propagates an ideal of progress to which people of all nations have remained responsive.
His long life spanned the last years of classicism and the eve of the revolutionary era, and during this age of transition his works and activities influenced the direction taken by European civilization.
Here are famous quotes by Voltaire on the main themes of his philosophy: religion and politics.
Voltaire Quotes
A witty saying proves nothing. –Voltaire
All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God. –Voltaire
All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. –Voltaire
All styles are good except the tiresome kind. –Voltaire
All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women. –Voltaire
An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination. –Voltaire
Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. –Voltaire
Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel. –Voltaire
Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung. –Voltaire
Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. –Voltaire
As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities. –Voltaire
Behind every successful man stands a surprised mother-in-law. –Voltaire
Better is the enemy of good. –Voltaire
Business is the salt of life. –Voltaire
By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property. –Voltaire
Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause. –Voltaire
Clever tyrants are never punished. –Voltaire
Common sense is not so common. –Voltaire
Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient. –Voltaire
Do well and you will have no need for ancestors. –Voltaire
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. –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
Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do. –Voltaire
Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest. –Voltaire
Everything’s fine today, that is our illusion. –Voltaire
Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. –Voltaire
Fear follows crime and is its punishment. –Voltaire
Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce. –Voltaire
Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent. –Voltaire
God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well. –Voltaire
God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. –Voltaire
God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best. –Voltaire
Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers. –Voltaire
He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise. –Voltaire
He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked. –Voltaire
He shines in the second rank, who is eclipsed in the first. –Voltaire
He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead. –Voltaire
He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it. –Voltaire
He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad. –Voltaire
History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes. –Voltaire
History should be written as philosophy. –Voltaire
How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child’s board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted. –Voltaire
I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom. –Voltaire
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it. –Voltaire
I hate women because they always know where things are. –Voltaire
I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow. –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
I have only ever made one prayer to God, a very short one: O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it. –Voltaire
I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil. –Voltaire
I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms. –Voltaire
Ice-cream is exquisite – what a pity it isn’t illegal. –Voltaire
If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated. –Voltaire
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him. –Voltaire
If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him. –Voltaire
Illusion is the first of all pleasures. –Voltaire
In every author let us distinguish the man from his works. –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
In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation. –Voltaire
In this country it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others. –Voltaire
Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes. –Voltaire
Injustice in the end produces independence. –Voltaire
Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others? –Voltaire
It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge. –Voltaire
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one. –Voltaire
It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong. –Voltaire
It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere. –Voltaire
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. –Voltaire
It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere. –Voltaire
It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind. –Voltaire
It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce. –Voltaire
It is not known precisely where angels dwell whether in the air, the void, or the planets. It has not been God’s pleasure that we should be informed of their abode. –Voltaire
It is not loved that should be depicted as blind, but self-love. –Voltaire
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it. –Voltaire
It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue. –Voltaire
It is said that the present is pregnant with the future. –Voltaire
It is the flash that appears, the thunderbolt will follow. –Voltaire
It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape. –Voltaire
Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers. –Voltaire
Let us read and let us dance – two amusements that will never do any harm to the world. –Voltaire
Let us work without theorizing, is the only way to make life endurable. –Voltaire
Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us. –Voltaire
Love has features which pierce all hearts, he wears a bandage which conceals the faults of those beloved. He has wings, he comes quickly and flies away from the same. –Voltaire
Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination. –Voltaire
Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. –Voltaire
Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity. –Voltaire
Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him. –Voltaire
Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts. –Voltaire
My life is a struggle. –Voltaire
Nature has always had more force than education. –Voltaire
Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry always gets the best of the argument. –Voltaire
No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. –Voltaire
No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible. –Voltaire
Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense. –Voltaire
Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. –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
One great use of words is to hide our thoughts. –Voltaire
One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose. –Voltaire
Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes. –Voltaire
Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable. –Voltaire
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another. –Voltaire
Our country is the spot to which our heart is bound. –Voltaire
Paradise was made for tender hearts; hell, for loveless hearts. –Voltaire
Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time. –Voltaire
Prejudices are what fools use for reason. –Voltaire
Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die. –Voltaire
Society therefore is an ancient as the world. –Voltaire
Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare. –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
Tears are the silent language of grief. –Voltaire
The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in. –Voltaire
The ancients recommended us to sacrifice to the Graces, but Milton sacrificed to the Devil. –Voltaire
The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third. –Voltaire
The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease. –Voltaire
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination. –Voltaire
The best is the enemy of the good. –Voltaire
The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out. –Voltaire
The ear is the avenue to the heart. –Voltaire
The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days. –Voltaire
The flowery style is not unsuitable to public speeches or addresses, which amount only to compliment. The lighter beauties are in their place when there is nothing more solid to say; but the flowery style ought to be banished from a pleading, a sermon, or a didactic work. –Voltaire
The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire. –Voltaire
The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself. –Voltaire
The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination. –Voltaire
The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great. –Voltaire
The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbors, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all. –Voltaire
The little may contrast with the great, in painting, but cannot be said to be contrary to it. Oppositions of color contrast; but there are also colors contrary to each other, that is, which produce an ill effect because they shock the eye when brought very near it. –Voltaire
The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs. –Voltaire
The multitude of books is making us ignorant. –Voltaire
The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year. –Voltaire
The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error. –Voltaire
The public is a ferocious beast; one must either chain it or flee from it. –Voltaire
The safest course is to do nothing against one’s conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear of death. –Voltaire
The secret of being a bore… is to tell everything. –Voltaire
The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice. –Voltaire
The superfluous, a very necessary thing. –Voltaire
The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it. –Voltaire
The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason. –Voltaire
The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence. –Voltaire
The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker. –Voltaire
There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times. –Voltaire
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. –Voltaire
This self-love is the instrument of our preservation; it resembles the provision for the perpetuity of mankind: it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives us pleasure, and we must conceal it. –Voltaire
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. –Voltaire
Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable. –Voltaire
To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd. –Voltaire
To hold a pen is to be at war. –Voltaire
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered. –Voltaire
To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth. –Voltaire
To the wicked, everything serves as pretext. –Voltaire
Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them. –Voltaire
Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy. –Voltaire
Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors. –Voltaire
Very often, say what you will, a knave is only a fool. –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
We are rarely proud when we are alone. –Voltaire
We cannot always oblige; but we can always speak obligingly. –Voltaire
We cannot wish for that we know not. –Voltaire
We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard. –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
We must distinguish between speaking to deceive and being silent to be reserved. –Voltaire
We never live; we are always in the expectation of living. –Voltaire
Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels. –Voltaire
What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous. –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
What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy. –Voltaire
What then do you call your soul? What idea have you of it? You cannot of yourselves, without revelation, admit the existence within you of anything but a power unknown to you of feeling and thinking. –Voltaire
When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics. –Voltaire
When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion. –Voltaire
Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors. –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
