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Voltaire Quotes - Page 20

All Quotes Abuse Acceptance Adversity Age Appreciation Art Atheism Atheist Beauty Beer Belief Boredom Certainty Character Children Christianity Church Common Sense Cooking Country Courage Crime Death Democracy Destiny Devil Doubt Dying Earth Eating Education Equality Evil Excellence Exercise Failure Faith Fame Fate Fear Feelings Food Freedom Friendship Funny Genius Giving God Gossip Grace Greatness Grief Happiness Hate Health Heart Heaven Hell History Human Nature Humanity Ignorance Imagination Independence Injustice Insanity Inspiration Inspirational Inspiring Justice Killing Knowledge Language Learning Liberty Life Loss Love Lying Madness Mankind Marriage Math Metaphysics Military Money Morality Motivational Nature Optimism Originality Passion Peace Perfection Philosophy Pleasure Poetry Politics Positive Thinking Prayer Prejudice Pride Progress Property Purpose Reading Reality Religion Reputation Revolution Risk Running Science Sin Sleep Soul Spirituality Stupidity Style Time Today Tolerance Tragedy Truth Virtue War Weakness Wine Wisdom Wit Work Writing Yoga

History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up.

History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up.

Shoes, History, Sound

If there are atheists, who is to be blamed if not the mercenary tyrants of souls who, in revolting us against their swindles, compel some feeble spirits to deny the God whom these monsters dishonour?

Atheist, Tyrants, Soul

History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.

History, Crime, Register

If you wish to converse with me, define your terms.

Communication, Wish, Term

When one man speaks to another man who doesn't understand him, and when a man who's speaking no longer understands, it's metaphysics.

Philosophy, Men, Speak

I have seen men incapable of the sciences, but never any incapable of virtue.

Men, Virtue, Incapable

Voltaire (2015). “Delphi Collected Works of Voltaire (Illustrated)”, p.4224, Delphi Classics

Martin in particular concluded that man was born to live either in the convulsions of misery, or in the lethargy of boredom.

Men, Boredom, Misery

We are intelligent beings: intelligent beings cannot have been formed by a crude, blind, insensible being: there is certainly some difference between the ideas of Newton and the dung of a mule. Newton's intelligence, therefore, came from another intelligence

Intelligent, Ideas, Differences

Voltaire (2015). “Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary”, p.51, Voltaire

The Deluge: A punishment inflicted on the human race by an all-knowing God, who, through not having foreseen the wickedness of men, repented of having made them, and drowned them once for all to make them better - an act which, as we all know, was accompanied by the greatest success.

Men, Knowing, Race

When we cannot use the compass of mathematics or the torch of experience...it is certain we cannot take a single step forward.

Math, Steps, Torches

The composition of a tragedy requires testicles.

Tragedy, Testicles, Composition

When asked 'why no woman has ever written a tolerable tragedy', in a letter from Lord Byron to John Murray, 2 April 1817

Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce.

Friendship, Valentines Day, Divorce

Voltaire (2016). “Voltaire – The Philosophical Works: Treatise On Tolerance, Philosophical Dictionary, Candide, Letters on England, Plato’s Dream, Dialogues, The Study of Nature, Ancient Faith and Fable, Zadig…: From the French writer, historian and philosopher, famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion and freedom of expression”, p.954, e-artnow

If God has made us in his image, we have returned him the favor.

Atheist, Atheism, Favors

Voltaire's Notebooks (c.1735-c.1750),

The rude beginnings of every art acquire a greater celebrity than the art in perfection; he who first played the fiddle was looked upon as a demigod.

Art, Perfection, Rude

Voltaire (2016). “VOLTAIRE – Premium Collection: Novels, Philosophical Writings, Historical Works, Plays, Poems & Letters (60+ Works in One Volume) - Illustrated: Candide, A Philosophical Dictionary, A Treatise on Toleration, Plato's Dream, The Princess of Babylon, Zadig, The Huron, Socrates, The Sage and the Atheist, Dialogues, Oedipus, Caesar…”, p.2562, e-artnow

By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.

Funny, Appreciation, Perfection

The only reward to be expected from literature is contempt if one fails and hatred if one succeeds.

Writing, Hatred, Rewards

As you know, the Inquisition is an admirable and wholly Christian invention to make the pope and the monks more powerful and turn a whole kingdom into hypocrites.

Christian, Powerful, Hypocrite

I am a little deaf, a little blind, a little important and on top of this are two or three abominable infirmities, but nothing destroys my hope.

Attitude, Two, Important

It is the flash which appears, the thunderbolt will follow.

Flash, Thunderbolts

You are very harsh.' 'I have seen the world.

World, Harsh, Disillusionment

The opinion of all lawyers, the unanimous cry of the nation, and the good of the state, are in themselves a law.

Law, Opinion, Cry

Voltaire (1824). “A Philosophical Dictionary”, p.326

You can never correct your work well until you have forgotten it.

Art, Writing, Forgotten

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

Political, Purpose, Criminal Mind

The man who, in a fit of melancholy, kills himself today, would have wished to live had he waited a week.

Suicide, Men, Today

Voltaire (2016). “VOLTAIRE – Premium Collection: Novels, Philosophical Writings, Historical Works, Plays, Poems & Letters (60+ Works in One Volume) - Illustrated: Candide, A Philosophical Dictionary, A Treatise on Toleration, Plato's Dream, The Princess of Babylon, Zadig, The Huron, Socrates, The Sage and the Atheist, Dialogues, Oedipus, Caesar…”, p.2902, e-artnow

All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.

Art, Philosophy, Philosophical

1759 Candide, ch.30.

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