Here is a list of some great Voltaire quotes. Voltaire was a French writer and philosopher who lived in the 1700’s.
“Clever tyrants are never punished.”
“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.”
“He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it.”
“Illusion is the first of all pleasures.”
“Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.”
“It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.”
“Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.”
“Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors.”
“We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.”
“What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.”
“What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly – that is the first law of nature.”
“All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God.”
“As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.”
“To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.”
“We are rarely proud when we are alone.”
“Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels.”
“Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.”
“The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice.”
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
“Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.”
“He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad.”
“God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.”
“Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest.”
“He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.”
“The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.”
“The little may contrast with the great, in painting, but cannot be said to be contrary to it. Oppositions of colors contrast; but there are also colors contrary to each other, that is, which produce an ill effect because they shock the eye when brought very near it.”
“It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.”
“The ear is the avenue to the heart.”
“The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbors, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.”
“There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.”
