Voltaire Quotes And Sayings

by allinspiration.com

Here is a collation of Voltaire quotes and sayings. Enjoy reading these quotations from this French Enlightenment writer, historian, public activist and philosopher. May you find them inspiring and enlightening.

“A man loved by a beautiful woman will always get out of trouble.”
– Voltaire

“A witty saying proves nothing.”
– Voltaire

“After all, it is no more surprising to me to be born twice than it is to be born once.”
– Voltaire

“Alas…I too have known love, that ruler of hearts, that soul of our soul: its never brought me anything except one kiss and twenty kicks in the rump. How could such a beautiful cause produce such an abominable effect on you?”
– Voltaire

“All events are linked together in the best of possible worlds; after all, if you had not been driven from a fine castle by being kicked in the backside for love of Miss Cunegonde, if you hadn’t been sent before the Inquisition, if you hadn’t traveled across America on foot, if you hadn’t given a good sword thrust to the baron, if you hadn’t lost all your sheep from the good land of Eldorado, you wouldn’t be sitting here eating candied citron and pistachios. – That is very well put, said Candide, but we must cultivate our garden.”
– Voltaire

“All is but illusion and disaster.”
– Voltaire

“All is for the best in the best of possible worlds.”
– Voltaire

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

“All men are by nature free; you have therefore an undoubted liberty to depart whenever you please, but will have many and great difficulties to encounter in passing the frontiers.”
– Voltaire

“And ask each passenger to tell his story, and if there is one of them all who has not cursed his existence many times, and said to himself over and over again that he was the most miserable of men, I give you permission to throw me head-first into the sea.”
– Voltaire

“Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.”
– Voltaire

“Answer me, you who believe that animals are only machines. Has nature arranged for this animal to have all the machinery of feelings only in order for it not to have any at all?”
– Voltaire

“Anything too stupid to be said is sung.”
– Voltaire

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”
– Voltaire

“Behind every successful man stands a surprised mother-in-law.”
– Voltaire

“Being a bird ain’t all about flying and shitting from high places.”
– Voltaire

“Being unable to make people more reasonable, I preferred to be happy away from them”
– Voltaire

“Beware of the words internal security, for they are the eternal cry of the oppressor.”
– Voltaire

“But for what purpose was the earth formed? asked Candide. To drive us mad, replied Martin.”
– Voltaire

“But in this country it is necessary, now and then, to put one admiral to death in order to inspire the others to fight.”
– Voltaire

“But there must be some pleasure in condemning everything in perceiving faults where others think they see beauties.”
– Voltaire

“Cela est bien, repondit Candide, mais il faut cultiver notre jardin.”
– Voltaire

“Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it.”
– Voltaire

“Come! you presence will either give me life or kill me with pleasure.”
– Voltaire

“Common sense is not so common.”
– Voltaire

“Dare to think for yourself.”
– Voltaire

“Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day.”
– Voltaire

“Discord is the great ill of mankind; and tolerance is the only remedy for it.”
– Voltaire

“Do you believe, said Candide, that men have always massacred each other as they do to-day, that they have always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates, brigands, idiots, thieves, scoundrels, gluttons, drunkards, misers, envious, ambitious, bloody-minded, calumniators, debauchees, fanatics, hypocrites, and fools?”
– Voltaire

“Do you believe, said Martin, that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they have found them?”
– Voltaire

“Doctors put drugs of which they know little into bodies of which they know less for diseases of which they know nothing at all.”
– Voltaire

“Don’t think money does everything or you are going to end up doing everything for money.”
– Voltaire

“Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one.”
– Voltaire

“Doubt is not a pleasant position, but certainty is an absurd one.”
– Voltaire

“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 cars in order to win the game.”
– Voltaire

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