Nov 21, 1694 - May 30, 1778
French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion and free trade
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We cannot always oblige; but we can always speak obligingly.
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.
The pursuit of what is true and the practice of what is good are the two most important objects of philosophy.
Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.
History is just the portrayal of crimes and misfortunes.
History is nothing but a pack of tricks that we play upon the dead.
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.
God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.
The true character of liberty is independence, maintained by force.
God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions.
Liberty, then, about which so many volumes have been written is, when accurately defined, only the power of acting.
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
The great consolation in life is to say what one thinks.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.
May God defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies.
The best is the enemy of the good.
It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.
What a heavy burden is a name that has become famous too soon.
All people are equal, it is not birth, it is virtue alone that makes the difference.
Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him.
As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.
It is fancy rather than taste which produces so many new fashions.
God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.
Exaggeration is the inseparable companion of greatness.
In my life, I have prayed but one prayer: oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it.
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.
You must have the devil in you to succeed in the arts.
Doubt is not a pleasant mental state, but certainty is a ridiculous one.
