Quotes by Voltaire
Better is the enemy of good.
The ear is the avenue to the heart.
To hold a pen is to be at war.
To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.
I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.
The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.
It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.
Clever tyrants are never punished.
The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice.
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.
The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason.
What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.
No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.
Tears are the silent language of grief.
Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors.
The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days.
In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.
The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year.
Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.
Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
