Voltaire Quotes

All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women

It is the privilege of true genius, and certainly of the genius that opens a new road, to make without punishment great mistakes.

الخِلاَفْ الطَويل يَعْنِي : أنّ كِلاَ الطّرَفينْ عَلَىْ خَطَأ !!

I should like to know which is worse: to be ravished a hundred times by pirates, and have a buttock cut off, and run the gauntlet of the Bulgarians, and be flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, and be dissected, and have to row in a galley — in short, to undergo all the miseries we have each of us suffered — or simply to sit here and do nothing?'
That is a hard question,' said Candide.

Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.

Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.

J'aime fort la vérité, mais je n'aime point du tout le martyre.

Il est triste que souvent, pour être bon patriote, on soit l'ennemi du reste des hommes.

I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges, – astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis, etc.

Tous les autres peuples ont commis des crimes, les Juifs sont les seuls qui s'en soient vantés. Ils sont tous nés avec la rage du fanatisme dans le cœur, comme les Bretons et les Germains naissent avec des cheveux blonds. Je ne serais point étonné que cette nation ne fût un jour funeste au genre humain.

Imagine all contradictions, all possible incompatibilities — you will find them in the government, in the law-courts, in the churches, in the public shows of this droll nation.

To caress the serpent that devours us, until it has eaten away our heart.

Cela est bien, repondit Candide, mais il faut cultiver notre jardin.

لنقرأ، لنرقص؛ هذان الشيئان المُسليان لن يسببا أي ضرر للعالم

One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.