Voltaire
98 quotations
It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books.
All kinds are good except the kind that bores you.
Doubt is not a pleasant mental state, but certainty is a ridiculous one.
The only way to compel men to speak good of us is to do it.
Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy; the mad daughter of a wise mother.
Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.
The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.
Tears are the silent language of grief.
Let us work without theorizing, 'Tis the only way to make life endurable.
It is only through timidity that states are lost.
He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.
To announce truths is an infallible receipt for being persecuted.
Truth is a fruit which should not be plucked until it is ripe.
Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.
Work banishes those three great evils: boredom, vice and poverty.
You can never correct your work well until you have forgotten it.
If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new.
The Pope is an idol whose hands are tied and whose feet are kissed.
Common sense is not so common.
He who dies before many witnesses always does so with courage.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
One of the chief misfortunes of honest people is that they are cowardly.
The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.