Voltaire's famous phrases, aphorisms and quotations from this French philosopher and novelist linked to the cultural movement of the Enlightenment of which he was one of the main exponents.
Voltaire's aphorisms
- We live in society; therefore there is no true good for us except what the good of society does.
- Each player must accept the cards that life gives him. But once he has them in hand, he only has to decide how to play them in order to win the game.
- The greatest of crimes, at least the most destructive and consequently the most contrary to nature, is war; but there is no aggressor who does not color this wrongdoing under the pretext of justice.
- Who gave us the feeling of right and wrong? God, who gave us a brain and a heart.
- I fight your idea, which is different from mine, but I am ready to fight up to the price of my life so that you, your idea, can freely express it.
- I went bankrupt twice: the first time when I lost a case and the second time when I won one.
- The doubt is not pleasant, but the certainty is ridiculous. Only imbeciles are sure of what they say.
- It is difficult to free fools from the chains they worship.
- The sensual pleasures pass and disappear in the blink of an eye, but the friendship between us, mutual trust, the delights of the heart, the spell of the soul, these things do not perish, they cannot be destroyed. I will love you to the death.
- That every law is clear, uniform and precise: interpreting it almost always leads to corruption.
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- Religion has existed since the first hypocrite met the first imbecile.
- Oh, best of all possible worlds, where are you now?
- The doubt is uncomfortable but only imbeciles don't have it.
- Superstition puts the whole world on fire, philosophy puts it out.
- Witches stopped existing when we stopped burning them.
- Finally, my dearest question, what does virtue consist of? It consists in doing good. We do well, and that's enough; and we won't look too much at the reason.
- Ask the toad what beauty is and he will answer that it is the female of the toad.
- The feeling of justice is so universally inherent in humanity that it seems independent of any law, party or religion.
- You have to be great ignorant to answer everything we are asked.
- The need to speak, the embarrassment of having nothing to say and the desire to show people of spirit are three things capable of making even the greatest man ridiculous.
- When the listener does not understand the speaker and the speaker does not know what he is saying: this is philosophy.
- When it comes to money, everyone has one religion.
- Superstition puts the whole world on fire; philosophy turns them off.
- Success has always been the son of audacity.
- Work takes away three great evils: boredom, vice and need.
- Better to leave an offender unpunished than to convict an innocent.
- Love the truth, but forgive the mistake.
- To be successful in this world, being stupid is not enough, you must also have good manners.
- Every man is guilty of all the good he has not done.
- When the truth is clear, it is impossible for parties and factions to arise. It has never been disputed whether it is day or night at noon.
- Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on beaten paths always throw stones to those who teach new ways.
- Of all the sciences the most absurd, the most capable of suffocating genius, is geometry. This ridiculous science has as its object surfaces, lines, points that do not exist in nature. Geometry is just a tacky joke.
- I am writing you a long letter because I don't have time to write a short one.
- We use ideas simply to hide our wickedness, and speech simply to hide our ideas.
- It is better to risk saving a culprit than to condemn an innocent.
- There are neither extreme delights nor extreme torments that can last a lifetime: the greatest good and the greatest evil are chimeras.
- Love is a canvas provided by Nature and embellished by the imagination.
- Man was born to live in the convulsions of restlessness or in the lethargy of boredom.
- The superfluous, which is more necessary than ever.
Quotes of Voltaire
- Prejudice is what crazy people use instead of reason.
- An old love is like a grain of sand, in one eye, which always torments us.
- Being truly free is power. When I can do what I want, here is freedom.
- All genres are good, except the boring genre.
- Anyone who can make you believe absurdities will make you commit atrocities.
- Men argue, nature acts.
- Beauty is pleasing to the eyes, but sweetness fascinates the soul.
- One can hardly read history without conceiving horror for mankind.
- Every man is guilty of all the good he has not done.
- The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature treats the disease.
- Nothing is more common than a person ready to give advice and nothing more rare than a person ready to give help.
- The word to man was given to hide the thought.
- You must have given up common sense in order not to agree that we know nothing except through experience.
- The true characteristic of freedom is independence, maintained by force.
- No philosopher has ever changed the habits of the street where he lives.
- Men hate what they call stingy just because they can't get by.
- Whoever says the secret of others is a traitor; who says his own is a fool.
- Love is the strongest of all passions because it attacks the head, heart and body simultaneously.
- All genres are fine except the boring genre.
- Fanaticism is to superstition like delirium to fever.
- Announcing truths, proposing something useful to humanity, is an infallible recipe for being persecuted. "
- We are all mixed with weaknesses and errors: forgiving each other our fools is the first law of nature.
- When the listener does not understand the speaker and the speaker does not know what he is saying: this is philosophy.
- You must have given up common sense so as not to agree that we know nothing except through experience.
- We will leave this stupid and bad world as we found it when we get there.
- There are men who use words for the sole purpose of hiding their thoughts.
- Discord is the greatest evil of mankind, and tolerance is the only remedy.
- Words are for thoughts what gold is for diamonds: necessary to implement them, but it takes little.
- The rest of our days depend on our first step in the world.
- Men are equal. Not birth, but virtue makes the difference.
- There is a big difference between speaking to deceive, and being silent to be impenetrable.
- We are all made of weakness and errors; let's forgive each other our nonsense: it's the first law of nature.
- Ignorance affirms or denies roundly; science doubts.
- The feeling of justice is so universally inherent in humanity that it seems independent of any law, party or religion.
- Habit, custom and tradition are stronger than truth. There is a need for a new revolution of the spirit, there is a need for a new enthusiasm, to destroy the old.
- When the truth is clear, it is impossible for parties and factions to arise. It has never been disputed whether it is day or night at noon.
- Tolerance never provoked a civil war; intolerance has covered the earth with massacres.
- The best way to get boring is to say it all.
- Big things are often easier than you think.
Voltaire phrases
- What we call chance is and cannot be anything but the unknown cause of a known effect.
- I advise you to live only to anger those who are paying for your pension. It is the only pleasure I have left.
- For most people correcting themselves means changing their defects.
- Animals have these advantages over humans: they have no theologians to educate them, funerals cost them nothing, and nobody promotes lawsuits for their wills.
- Those who have ecstasies, visions, those who mistake dreams for reality are enthusiastic. Anyone who claims their madness with murder is a fanatic.
- Love is the strongest of all passions because it attacks the head, heart and body simultaneously.
- We can't always please others, but we can always talk in a complacent way.
- Everything that is too stupid to say is sung.
- Superstition puts the whole world on fire, philosophy puts it out.
- It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.
- I questioned my reason; I asked her what it is: this question has always confused her.
- It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity is considered a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge.
- A man is free the moment he wishes to be.
- The pleasure of governing must undoubtedly be exquisite, if we are to judge by the large number of people who are eager to practice it.
- Men are like animals: the big ones eat the little ones and the little ones sting them.
- Let us read and dance - two amusements that will never harm the world.
- Who are you? Where are you from? What are you doing? What will you become? These are questions that must be asked to all creatures in the universe, but none of which is answered.
- The universe embarrasses me and I can't think that this watch doesn't have its watchmaker.
- Famine, plague and war are the three most famous ingredients in this world.
- Men are equal; not birth, but virtue makes the difference.
- Who gave us the feeling of right and wrong? God, who gave us a brain and a heart.
- It is strange that you speak so well of Mr. X when he always speaks so badly of you. Really?! Maybe we are both wrong.
- If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent it.
- If you sometimes see a Swiss banker jump out the window, jump after him. There is certainly something to be gained.
- Everything is fine, everything is fine, everything is for the best possible.
- I know people, change in one day. He gives his hatred and love with the same generosity.
- I'm not saying anything; but I'm happy to believe that there are more things possible than you think.
- Appreciation is a wonderful thing; makes what is excellent in others also belong to us.
- You must have given up common sense so as not to agree that we know nothing except through experience.
- The bravest decision you make every day is to be in a good mood.
- Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on beaten paths always throw stones to those who teach new ways.
- I decided to be happy because it is good for my health.
- Enthusiasm is exactly like wine: it can excite so much turmoil in the blood vessels, and so violent vibrations in the nerves, that reason is completely destroyed. It can also only cause slight shocks, which only give the brain a little more activity; this is what happens in the great movements of eloquence, and especially in sublime poetry. Reasonable enthusiasm is the gift of great poets.
- An old love is like a grain of sand, in one eye, which always torments us.
- Respects are due to the living, only the truth is due to the dead.
- An ecclesiastic is one who feels called to live without working at the expense of the wretched who work to live.
- It is sad to have so many ideas, and not to know precisely the nature of the ideas.
- It is only because of an excess of ridiculous vanity that men attribute a soul of a different species to that of animals.
- We say goodbye but we don't talk at all.
- I proclaim the freedom of thought aloud and let those who don't think like me die.
- I admit; but it is much sadder, and much more foolish to believe that you know what is unknown.
