Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
It must be confessed that the inventors of the mechanical arts have been much more useful to men than the inventors of syllogisms.
The man who says to me, "Believe as I do, or God will damn you," will presently say, "Believe as I do, or I shall assassinate you."
Man can have only a certain number of teeth, hair and ideas; there comes a time when he necessarily loses his teeth, hair and ideas.
The Bible. That is what fools have written, what imbeciles commend, what rogues teach and young children are made to learn by heart.
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.
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.
A physician is an unfortunate gentleman who is every day required to perform a miracle; namely to reconcile health with intemperance.
It is love; love, the comfort of the human species, the preserver of the universe, the soul of all sentient beings, love, tender love.
Religion may be purified. This great work was begun two hundred years ago: but men can only bear light to come in upon them by degrees.
If one does not reflect, one thinks oneself master of everything; but when one does reflect, one realizes that one is master of nothing.
When he who hears does not know what he who speaks means, and when he who speaks does not know what he himself means, that is philosophy.
If you have two religions in your land, the two will cut each other’s throats; but if you have thirty religions, they will dwell in peace
The passions are the winds which fill the sails of the vessel; they sink it at times, but without them it would be impossible to make way.
Men fed upon carnage, and drinking strong drinks, have all an impoisoned and acrid blood which drives them mad in a hundred different ways.
We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one.
Whenever an important event, a revolution, or a calamity turns to the profit of the church, such is always signalised as the Finger of God.
All the persecutors declare against each other mortal war, while the philosopher, oppressed by them all, contents himself with pitying them.
Why are the Jews hated? It is the inevitable result of their laws; they either have to conquer everybody or be hated by the whole human race.
The tyranny of the many would be when one body takes over the rights of others, and then exercises its power to change the laws in its favor.
Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare.
We have our arts, the ancients had theirs... We cannot raise obelisks a hundred feet high in a single piece, but our meridians are more exact.
The right of commanding is no longer an advantage transmitted by nature; like an inheritance, it is the fruit of labors, the price of courage.
How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child's board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted.
Optimism," said Cacambo, "What is that?" "Alas!" replied Candide, "It is the obstinacy of maintaining that everything is best when it is worst.
Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.
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.
Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.
When truth is evident, it is impossible for parties and factions to rise. There never has been a dispute as to whether there is daylight at noon.
If there had been a censorship of the press in Rome we should have had today neither Horace nor Juvenal, nor the philosophical writings of Cicero.
Now, now my good man, this is no time to be making enemies." (Voltaire on his deathbed in response to a priest asking him that he renounce Satan.)
If mankind were born tomorrow it would divide into groups; each would scramble to invent their one and only god, and set about butchering each-other.
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.
History in general is a collection of crimes, follies, and misfortunes among which we have now and then met with a few virtues, and some happy times.
Pleasantry is never good on serious points, because it always regards subjects in that point of view in which it is not the purpose to consider them.
The man visited by ecstasies and visions, who takes dreams for realities is an enthusiast; the man who supports his madness with murder is a fanatic.
It is the poverty connected with our species which subordinates one man to another. It is not inequality which is the real misfortune, it is dependence.
The sentiment of justice is so natural, and so universally acquired by all mankind, that it seems to be independent of all law, all party, all religion.
The Jews have always been waiting for a Messiah, but their Messiah is for them only, not for us, a Messiah ho will give them mastery over the Christians.
It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge.
What can you say to a man who tells you he prefers obeying God rather than men, and that as a result he's certain he'll go to heaven if he cuts your throat?
Theological religion is the source of all imaginable follies and disturbances. It is the parent of fanaticism and civil discord; it is the enemy of mankind.
We must cultivate our own garden. When man was put in the garden of Eden he was put there so that he should work, which proves that man was not born to rest.
Once your faith persuades you to believe what your intelligence declares absurd, beware, lest you likewise sacrifice your reason in the conduct of your life.
When men do not have healthy notions of the Divinity, false ideas supplant them, just as in bad times one uses counterfeit money when there is no good money.
Every man can educate himself. It's shameful to put one's mind into the hands of those whom you wouldn't entrust with your money. Dare to think for yourself.
The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe.
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.
It is proved...that things cannot be other than they are, for since everything was made for a purpose, it follows that everything is made for the best purpose.
The policy of man consists, at first, in endeavoring to arrive at a state equal to that of animals, whom nature has furnished with food, clothing, and shelter.
Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.