Voltaire

It is not a mistress I have lost but half of myself, a soul for which my soul seems to have been made.

It is not enough to be exceptionally mad, licentious and fanatical in order to win a great reputation; it is still necessary to arrive on the scene at the right time.

Fame is a heavy burden.

The punishment of criminals should be of use; when a man is hanged he is good for nothing.

I have wanted to kill myself a million times, <br /> but somehow I am still in love with life.

Music is the pathway to the heart.

God prefers bad verses recited with a pure heart to the finest verses chanted by the wicked.

Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly.

Being unable to make people more reasonable, I preferred to be happy away from them

You see, Mademoiselle, I have experience, I know the world. To pass the time, why don't you ask every passenger to tell you his life's story? And if there is a single one among them who has never cursed his life, who has not often told himself that he was the unhappiest of men, then you may throw me overboard, headfirst!

One feels like crawling on all fours after reading your work.

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

Men use thought only to justify their wrong doings, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts. Ils ne se servent de la pensГ©e que pour autoriser leurs injustices, et emploient les paroles que pour dГ©guiser leurs pensГ©es.

Mortals are equal; their mask differs.

Wine is the divine juice of September.

Of all religions, Christianity is without a doubt the one that should inspire tolerance most

We know that all the arts are brothers, that each of them illuminates another, and that a universal light results.

Twenty-volume folios will never make a revolution. It's the little pocket pamphlets that are to be feared.

If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize.

What is madness? To have erroneous perceptions and to reason correctly from them.

A historian has many duties... the first is not to slander; the second is not to bore

Nothing is so common as to imitate one's enemies, and to use their weapons.

The right to free speech is more important than the content of the speech.

Friends should be preferred to kings.

Man is free the moment he wants to be.

Writing is the painting of the voice.

Doubt is not a very agreeable status, but certainty is a ridiculous one.

God created woman to tame man.

He who thinks himself wise, O heavens! is a great fool.

I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges, astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis, etc..