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Voltaire

92 quotes

Voltaire (1694–1778) was the pen name of François-Marie Arouet, a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, advocacy of civil liberties, and criticism of established religion and institutions. His satirical novel *Candide* remains one of the most widely read works of French literature.

“To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.”

— Voltaire

Respect

All Quotes by Voltaire

“Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.”

— Voltaire

Men

“We are rarely proud when we are alone.”

— Voltaire

Alone

“I hate women because they always know where things are.”

— Voltaire

Women

“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.”

— Voltaire

Great

“The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.”

— Voltaire

Best

“It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.”

— Voltaire

Good

“Tears are the silent language of grief.”

— Voltaire

Sympathy

“Society therefore is an ancient as the world.”

— Voltaire

Society

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

— Voltaire

Friendship

“History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.”

— Voltaire

History

“Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.”

— Voltaire

Alone

“It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.”

— Voltaire

Beauty

“If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him.”

— Voltaire

God

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

— Voltaire

Women

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

— Voltaire

Death

“What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.”

— Voltaire

Famous

“It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.”

— Voltaire

Future

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

— Voltaire

Alone

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

— Voltaire

Great

“I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.”

— Voltaire

Truth