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Voltaire Quotes - Page 7

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

Love truth, but pardon error.

Love truth, but pardon error.

Love, Life, Dream

"Sept Discours en Vers sur l'Homme". Book by Voltaire, 1738.

I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow.

Men, Years, Sorrow

One always speaks badly when one has nothing to say.

Speak

"Commentaires sur Corneille (1764)". "Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire", 1827.

I have been a hundred times on the point of killing myself, but still was fond of life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our worst instincts. What can be more absurd than choosing to carry a burden that one really wants to throw to the ground? To detest, and yet to strive to preserve our existence? To caress the serpent that devours us, and hug him close to our bosoms till he has gnawed into our hearts?

Heart, Hug, Weakness

Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare.

Courage, Truth, May

Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.

Journey, Hiking, Thought Provoking

Francois Voltaire (1977). “The Portable Voltaire”, p.109, Penguin

Men are equal; it is not birth but virtue that makes the difference.

Birthday, Equality, Men

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

Inspirational, Inspiring, Christmas

Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.

Optimistic, Optimism, Madness

If God did not exist, He would have to be invented. But all nature cries aloud that he does exist: that there is a supreme intelligence, an immense power, an admirable order, and everything teaches us our own dependence on it.

Nature, Order, Eels

Voltaire (1956). “Candide: and other writings”

Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.

Happiness, Men, Advice

The necessity of saying something, the embarrassment produced by the consciousness of having nothing to say, and the desire to exhibit ability, are three things sufficient to render even a great man ridiculous.

Philosophy, Men, Desire

Voltaire (1824). “A Philosophical Dictionary: From the French”, p.118

A clergyman is one who feels himself called upon to live without working at the expense of the rascals who work to live.

Atheism, Clergymen, Expenses

A physician is one who pours drugs of which he knows little into a body of which he knows less.

Medicine, Drug, Physicians

The man who leaves money to charity in his will is only giving away what no longer belongs to him

Inspirational, Men, Giving

The greatest consolation in life is to say what one thinks.

Life, Thinking, Consolation

One should always aim at being interesting, rather than exact.

Interesting, Should, Aim

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.

Believe, Independent, Taste

"Candide, Or, Optimism". Book by Voltaire, 1759.

Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?

Wise, Wisdom, Learning

Perfect is the enemy of good.

Perfect, Perfection, Enemy

All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God.

God, Reality, Men

To achieve a goal, a dream, a wish, you must plan it out for success!

Dream, Goal, Wish

So it is the human condition that to wish for the greatness of one's fatherland is to wish evil to one's neighbors. The citizen of the universe would be the man who wishes his country never to be either greater or smaller, richer or poorer.

Country, Men, Greatness

Men argue. Nature acts.

Nature, Men, Arguing

Voltaire (2015). “Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary”, p.462, Voltaire

The secret of being a bore... is to tell everything.

Boredom, Secret, Brevity

SAMUEL JOHNSON

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