"The little may contrast with the great,..." - Quote by Voltaire

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

“I swear that, not being able to be yours, I will belong to no one.”

“In France every man is either an anvil or a hammer; he is a beater or must be beaten.”

“Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed.”

“To a high degree we are, through art and science, cultured. We are civilized - perhaps too much for our own good - in all sorts of social grace and decorum. But to consider ourselves ashaving reached morality - for that, much is lacking.”

“But the mark of American merit in painting, in sculpture, in poetry, in fiction, in eloquence, seems to be a certain grace withoutgrandeur, and itself not new but derivative; a vase of fair outline, but empty,--which whoso sees, may fill with what wit and character is in him, but which does not, like the charged cloud, overflow with terrible beauty, and emit lightnings on all beholders.”

“What is peace? Is it war? No. Is it strife? No. Is it lovely, and gentle, and beautiful, and pleasant, and serene, and joyful? O yes!”

“The name of peace is sweet and the thing itself good, but between peace and slavery there is the greatest difference.”

“You are always training yourself to be, mind and body, as clear as crystal, and you always are, and never change; whereas I am a muddy, solitary, moping weed.”