Quotes from Voltaire

When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.

Faith consists in believing what reason cannot.

If God has created us in His image, we have more than returned the compliment.

Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.

Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.

It is vain for the coward to flee death follows close behind it is only by defying it that the brave escape.

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

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

It is not known precisely where angels dwell — whether in the air, the void, or the planets. It has not been God's pleasure that we should be informed of their abode.

History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.

Better is the enemy of good.

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it.

The superfluous, a very necessary thing.

The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.

Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce.

The multiplicity of facts and writings is become so great that every thing must soon be reduced to extracts and dictionaries.

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.

He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it.

Everyone should be his own physician. We ought to assist and not force nature. Eat with moderation what agrees with your constitution. Nothing is good for the body but what we can digest. What medicine can produce digestion? Exercise. What will recruit strength? Sleep. What will alleviate incurable ills? Patience.

Business is the salt of life.

He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend provided, of course, he really is dead.

There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.

Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.

Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die.