Voltaire
98 quotations
Pleasure is the object, duty and the goal of all rational creatures.
Work is often the father of pleasure.
It is as impossible to translate poetry as it is to translate music.
Verses which do not teach men new and moving truths do not deserve to be read.
This poem will never reach its destination. [On Rousseau's Ode To Posterity]
My prayer to God is a very short one: O Lord, make my enemies look ridiculous! God has granted it.
Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great.
No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.
The punishment of criminals should serve a purpose. When a man is hanged he is useless.
Judge a person by their questions, rather than their answers.
He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.
The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.
Every abuse ought to be reformed, unless the reform is more dangerous than the abuse itself.
We owe respect to the living. To the dead we owe only truth.
Rest is a good thing, but boredom is its brother.
Independence in the end is the fruit of injustice.
Self-love is the instrument of our preservation.
It is not love that should be depicted as blind, but self-love.
I know of no great man except those who have rendered great services to the human race.
Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.
A witty saying proves nothing.
He who doesn't have the spirit of his time, has all its misery.
They use thought only to justify their injustices, and speech only to disguise their thoughts.
All the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books.