The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.
— Voltaire
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.
It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.
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.
Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.
Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
Common sense is not so common.
What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.
All men are born with a nose and five fingers, but no one is born with a knowledge of God.
Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.
To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd.
I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil.
Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.
I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.
We are rarely proud when we are alone.
Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.
I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms.
By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.
It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.
To hold a pen is to be at war.
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.
The public is a ferocious beast; one must either chain it or flee from it.
Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.
Very often, say what you will, a knave is only a fool.
The secret of being a bore... is to tell everything.
Better is the enemy of good.
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.
Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.
We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard.
Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.
A witty saying proves nothing.
When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.
Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.
