Voltaire Quotes

“Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.”

“What would constitute useful history? That which should teach us our duties and our rights, without appearing to teach them.”

“Love truth, but pardon error.”

“We are going to a new world... and no doubt it is there that everything is for the best; for it must be admitted that one might lament a little over the physical and moral happenings of our own world.”

“Ask a toad what is beauty....; he will answer that it is a female with two great round eyes coming out of her little head, a large flat head, a yellow belly and a brown back.”

“History is the lie commonly agreed upon.”

“It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books.”

“Injustice in the end produces independence.”

“I know of no great men except those who have rendered great service to the human race.”

“I have chosen to be happy because it is goo for my health.”

“The little may contrast with the great, in painting, but cannot be said to be contrary to it. Oppositions of colors contrast; but there are also colors contrary to each other, that is, which produce an ill effect because they shock the eye when brought very near it.”

“What is not in nature can never be true.”

“For can anything be sillier than to insist on carrying a burden one would continually much rather throw to the ground?”

“The multiplicity of facts and writings is become so great that every thing must soon be reduced to extracts and dictionaries.”

“The greatest consolation in life is to say what one thinks.”

“Now is not the time for making new enemies.”

“Excellently observed", answered Candide; "but let us cultivate our garden.”

“Who are you, Nature?I live in you;for fifty years I have been seeking you,and I have not found you yet.”

“Clever tyrants are never punished.”

“I was never ruined but twice: once when I lost a lawsuit, and once when I won one.”

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

“Dare to think for yourself.”

“There are some that only employ words for the purpose of disguising their thoughts.”

“There are men who can think no deeper than a fact.”

“A circumstance which has always appeared wonderful to me, is that such sublime discoveries should have been made by the sole assistance of a quadrant and a little arithmetic.”