Quotes from Voltaire

All the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books.

The secret of boring people lies in telling them everything.

Providence has given us hope and sleep as a compensation for the many cares of life.

If there had been a censorship of the press in Rome we should have had today neither Horace nor Juvenal, nor the philosophical writings of Cicero.

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.

The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream That this watch exists and has no watchmaker.

Fear succeeds crime - it is its punishment.

Doubt is not a pleasant state, but certainty is a ridiculous one.

My prayer to God is a very short one "Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous!" God has granted it.

England has forty-two religions and only two sauces.

Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent.

The superfluous is very necessary.

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

It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.

He who thinks himself wise, O heavens! is a great fool.

Shun idleness. It is a rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals.

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

Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors.

Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel.

Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

War is the greatest of all crimes; and yet there is no aggressor who does not color his crime with the pretext of justice.

To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.

Such then is the human condition, that to wish greatness for one's country is to wish harm to one's neighbors.