Voltaire
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.Collection: Work
The ear is the avenue to the heart.Collection: Love
Better is the enemy of good.Collection: Good
To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd.Collection: Faith
The superfluous, a very necessary thing.Collection: Funny
He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.Collection: Great
He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it.Collection: Age
In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.Collection: Art
The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason.Collection: Religion
Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.Collection: Chance
Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.Collection: Men
The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.Collection: Fear
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.Collection: War
One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.Collection: Poetry
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.Collection: Nature
It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.Collection: Freedom
If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.Collection: God
There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.Collection: Men
History should be written as philosophy.Collection: History
Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors.Collection: Women
One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.Collection: Great
The best is the enemy of the good.Collection: Best
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature.Collection: Nature
What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.Collection: Age
Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.Collection: Marriage
I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.Collection: Truth
Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.Collection: Freedom
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.
It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.
The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.
Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.
It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.
Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.
Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.
Use, do not abuse... neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.
Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world.
To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.
We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
The secret of being a bore... is to tell everything.
Paradise was made for tender hearts; hell, for loveless hearts.
The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.
The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.
Let the punishments of criminals be useful. A hanged man is good for nothing; a man condemned to public works still serves the country, and is a living lesson.