V

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.

“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.”

— Voltaire

Nature

All Quotes by Voltaire

“We are all full of weakness and errors let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.”

— Voltaire

Nature

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

— Voltaire

Sad

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

— Voltaire

Friendship

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

— Voltaire

Respect

“Better is the enemy of good.”

— Voltaire

Good

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

— Voltaire

Time

“If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.”

— Voltaire

God

“All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God.”

— Voltaire

God

“It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge.”

— Voltaire

Knowledge

“To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd.”

— Voltaire

God

“In this country it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.”

— Voltaire

Good

“Tears are the silent language of grief.”

— Voltaire

Sympathy

“What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.”

— Voltaire

Age

“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.”

— Voltaire

Death

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

— Voltaire

Women

“All styles are good except the tiresome kind.”

— Voltaire

Good

“The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great.”

— Voltaire

Great

“Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him.”

— Voltaire

Men

“Let us work without theorizing, tis the only way to make life endurable.”

— Voltaire

Work

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

— Voltaire

Sad