Voltaire

One of the chief misfortunes of honest people is that they are cowardly.

When we cannot use the compass of mathematics or the torch of experience...it is certain we cannot take a single step forward.

Independence in the end is the fruit of injustice.

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.

A yawn may not be polite, but at least it is an honest opinion.

A small number of choice books are sufficient.

I keep to old books, for they teach me something; from the new I learn very little

Whosoever does not know how to recognize the faults of great men is incapable of estimating their perfections.

Whatever you do, trample down abuses, and love those who love you. Different translation: Whatever you do, crush the infamous thing superstition, and love those who love you.

The more you know, the less sure you are.

Among the illusions which have invested our civilization is an absolute belief that the solutions to our problems must be a more determined application of rationally organized expertise... The reality is that our problems are largely the product of that application.

I was never ruined but twice: once when I lost a lawsuit, and once when I won one.

What is toleration? It is the prerogative of humanity. We are all steeped in weaknesses and errors: Let us forgive one another's follies, it is the first law of nature.

Monsieur l'abbГ©, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.

To enjoy life we must touch much of it lightly.

This is no time to be making new enemies.

Whatever you do, crush the infamy.

Men will commit atrocities as long as they believe absurdities.

It does not require great art, or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God?

History is a pack of lies we play on the dead.

Ideas are like beards; men do not have them until they grow up.

Shakespeare is a drunken savage with some imagination whose plays please only in London and Canada.

What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason.

A good action is preferable to an argument.

The superstitious man is to the rogue what the slave is to the tyrant.

Let each of us boldly and honestly say: How little it is that I really know!

Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.

Which is more dangerous: fanaticism or atheism? Fanaticism is certainly a thousand times more deadly; for atheism inspires no bloody passion whereas fanaticism does; atheism is opposed to crime and fanaticism causes crimes to be committed.

To succeed in chaining the multitude, you must seem to wear the same fetters.

A clergyman is one who feels himself called upon to live without working at the expense of the rascals who work to live.