Voltaire Quotes

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

Faith consists in believing what reason cannot.

If mankind were born tomorrow it would divide into groups; each would scramble to invent their one and only god, and set about butchering each-other.

The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude.

It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.

Doctors put drugs of which they know little into bodies of which they know less for diseases of which they know nothing at all.

He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.

Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare.

What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.

I cannot imagine how the clockwork of the universe can exist without a clockmaker.

Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.

The man who says to me, "Believe as I do, or God will damn you," will presently say, "Believe as I do, or I shall assassinate you."

The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year.

Being unable to make people more reasonable, I preferred to be happy away from them

If you have two religions in your land, the two will cut each other’s throats; but if you have thirty religions, they will dwell in peace

I would rather obey a fine lion, much stronger than myself, than two hundred rats of my own species.

All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.

If one does not reflect, one thinks oneself master of everything; but when one does reflect, one realizes that one is master of nothing.

Life is thickly sown with thorns. I know no other remedy than to pass rapidly over them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes the greater is their power to harm us.

Man is free at the instant he wants to be.

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

What is madness? To have erroneous perceptions and to reason correctly from them.

To announce truths is an infallible receipt for being persecuted.

It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.

My life is a struggle.

Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion that has ever infected the world.

He who thinks himself wise, O heavens! is a great fool.

Men will always be mad, and those who think they can cure them are the maddest of all.

Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives and few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time.

Doubt is uncomfortable, certainty is ridiculous.

The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe.

In every province, the chief occupations, in order of importance, are lovemaking, malicious gossip, and talking nonsense.

Time is man's most precious asset. All men neglect it; all regret the loss of it; nothing can be done without it.

War is the greatest of all crimes; and yet there is no aggressor who does not color his crime with the pretext of justice.

Prejudices are what rule the vulgar crowd.

Tears are the silent language of grief.

The superfluous, a very necessary thing.

This agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.

The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.

Ice-cream is exquisite - what a pity it isn't illegal.

Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.

Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it.

One should always aim at being interesting, rather than exact.

To achieve a goal, a dream, a wish, you must plan it out for success!

There is no such thing as an accident. What we call by that name is the effect of some cause which we do not see.

When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.