Quotes from Voltaire

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.

The secret of being a bore... is to tell everything.

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid - one must also be polite.

Better is the enemy of good.

He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.

He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad.

We cannot wish for that we know not.

What then do you call your soul? What idea have you of it? You cannot of yourselves, without revelation, admit the existence within you of anything but a power unknown to you of feeling and thinking.

A witty saying proves nothing.

Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors.

Society therefore is as ancient as the world.

Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time.

Now, now my good man, this is no time to be making enemies." (Voltaire on his deathbed in response to a priest asking him that he renounce Satan.)

There is only one morality, as there is only one geometry.

Those who are absent, by its means become present; it [mail] is the consolation of life.

My life's dream has been a perpetual nightmare.

He shines in the second rank, who is eclipsed in the first.

We are rarely proud when we are alone.

I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil.

One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.

Man can have only a certain number of teeth, hair and ideas; there comes a time when he necessarily loses his teeth, hair and ideas.

Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.

Now is not the time for making new enemies.