Voltaire Quotes

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

If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize.

It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.

The mirror is a worthless invention. The only way to truly see yourself is in the reflection of someone else's eyes.

Give me the patience for the small things of life, courage for the great trials of life. Help me to do my best each day and then go to sleep knowing God is awake.

Many are destined to reason wrongly; others, not to reason at all; and others, to persecute those who do reason.

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.

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

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

The more often a stupidity is repeated, the more it gets the appearance of wisdom.

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

Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.

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

The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.

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

Dont think money does everything or you are going to end up doing everything for money.

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.

Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said.

Democracy is just a filler for textbooks! Do you actually believe that public opinion influences the government?

Prejudices are what fools use for reason.

The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor.

The darkness is at its deepest. Just before the sunrise.

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

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

If there’s life on other planets, then the earth is the Universe’s insane asylum.

Common sense is not so common.

The more a man knows, the less he talks.

What is history? The lie that everyone agrees on.

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

‎Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.

Dare to think for yourself.

We are all guilty of the good we did not do

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

Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day.

May God defend me from my friends: I can defend myself from my enemies.

Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need.

What can you say to a man who tells you he prefers obeying God rather than men, and that as a result he's certain he'll go to heaven if he cuts your throat?

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

The right to free speech is more important than the content of the speech.

We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.

Beware of the words "internal security," for they are the eternal cry of the oppressor.

Wherever my travels may lead, paradise is where I am.

Every man can educate himself. It's shameful to put one's mind into the hands of those whom you wouldn't entrust with your money. Dare to think for yourself.

It is not inequality which is the real misfortune, it is dependence.

No opinion is worth burning your neighbor for.

Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.

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

A minister of state is excusable for the harm he does when the helm of government has forced his hand in a storm; but in the calm he is guilty of all the good he does not do.

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.

One day everything will be well, that is our hope. Everything's fine today, that is our illusion.