Voltaire Quotes

French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his criticism of Christianity

All kinds are good except the kind that bores you.
– Voltaire

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The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.
– Voltaire

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When it’s a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.
– Voltaire

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It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
– Voltaire

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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

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God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
– Voltaire

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I hate women because they always know where things are.
– Voltaire

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The secret of being a bore is to tell everything.
– Voltaire

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Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.
– Voltaire

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

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

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Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
– Voltaire

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Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.
– Voltaire

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What is history? The lie that everyone agrees on…
– Voltaire

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

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God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.
– Voltaire

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Dare to think for yourself.
– Voltaire

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Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
– Voltaire

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I know of nothing more laughable than a doctor who does not die of old age.
– Voltaire

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Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.
– Voltaire

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Common sense is not so common.
– Voltaire

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

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

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No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking.
– Voltaire

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

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Atheism is the vice of a few intelligent people.
– Voltaire

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Opinions have caused more ills than the plague or earthquakes on this little globe of ours.
– Voltaire

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The safest course is to do nothing against one’s conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.
– Voltaire

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It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one.
– Voltaire

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

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Injustice in the end produces independence.
– Voltaire

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The punishment of criminals should be of use; when a man is hanged he is good for nothing.
– Voltaire

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Doubt is not a pleasant state of mind, but certainty is absurd.
– Voltaire

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Shun idleness. It is a rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals.
– Voltaire

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Men are equal; it is not birth but virtue that makes the difference.
– Voltaire

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We are rarely proud when we are alone.
– Voltaire

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Men use thought only to justify their wrong-doings, and words only to conceal their thoughts.
– Voltaire

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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

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Doubt is uncomfortable, certainty is ridiculous.
– Voltaire

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All the citizens of a state cannot be equally powerful, but they may be equally free.
– Voltaire

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Pleasure is the object, duty and the goal of all rational creatures.
– Voltaire

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We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.
– Voltaire

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Originality is nothing by judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.
– Voltaire

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I hold firmly to my original views. After all I am a philosopher.
– Voltaire

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Men employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.
– Voltaire

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It is not more surprising to be born twice than once; everything in nature is resurrection.
– Voltaire

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If you wish to converse with me,
define your terms.
– Voltaire

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An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
– Voltaire

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What a heavy burden is a name that has become famous too soon.
– Voltaire

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Fear follows crime and is its punishment.
– Voltaire

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