Voltaire was a leading Enlightenment thinker known for his sharp intellect, wit, and fearless advocacy for reason and freedom of thought. His writings challenged dogma, intolerance, and injustice while championing civil liberties and intellectual independence. The following quotes reflect Voltaire’s enduring insights into human nature, society, and the power of critical thinking.
Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
The superfluous, a very necessary thing.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid - one must also be polite.
If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated."
(Notebooks)
I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow.
The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood.
Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.
Morality is everywhere the same for all men, therefore it comes from God; sects differ, therefore they are the work of men.
From A Pocket Philosophical Dictionary
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it."
(Letter to Étienne Noël Damilaville, May 16, 1767)
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
In the beginning God created man in His own image, and man has been trying to repay the favor ever since.
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
The discovery of what is true and the practice of that which is good are the two most important aims of philosophy.
Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.
God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
Don't think money does everything or you are going to end up doing everything for money.
We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one
We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
Perfect is the enemy of good.
God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.
It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.
Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
The superfluous, a very necessary thing.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid - one must also be polite.
If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated."
(Notebooks)
I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow.
The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood.
Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.
Morality is everywhere the same for all men, therefore it comes from God; sects differ, therefore they are the work of men.
From A Pocket Philosophical Dictionary
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it."
(Letter to Étienne Noël Damilaville, May 16, 1767)
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
In the beginning God created man in His own image, and man has been trying to repay the favor ever since.
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
The discovery of what is true and the practice of that which is good are the two most important aims of philosophy.
Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.
God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
Don't think money does everything or you are going to end up doing everything for money.
We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one
We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
Perfect is the enemy of good.
God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.
It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.
Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
The superfluous, a very necessary thing.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid - one must also be polite.
If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated."
(Notebooks)
I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow.
The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood.
Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.
Morality is everywhere the same for all men, therefore it comes from God; sects differ, therefore they are the work of men.
From A Pocket Philosophical Dictionary
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it."
(Letter to Étienne Noël Damilaville, May 16, 1767)
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
In the beginning God created man in His own image, and man has been trying to repay the favor ever since.
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
The discovery of what is true and the practice of that which is good are the two most important aims of philosophy.
Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.
God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
Don't think money does everything or you are going to end up doing everything for money.
We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one
We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
Perfect is the enemy of good.
God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.
It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.
