Quotes from Voltaire

There are actions which the whole world considers fine... They will say the same of great moral maxims; of that of Zoroaster: "If in doubt that an action be just, desist;" of that of Confucius: "Forget injuries; never forget kindnesses."

The most original wits borrow from one another.

The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.

By appreciation we make excellence in others belong to us as well.

Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.

Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need.

A clergyman is one who feels himself called upon to live without working at the expense of the rascals who work to live.

If you are attacked as regards your style, never reply; it is for your work alone to make answer.

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

Perfect is the enemy of good.

Very often, say what you will, a knave is only a fool.

It requires ages to destroy a popular opinion.

If you wish to obtain a great name or to found an establishment, be completely mad; but be sure that your madness corresponds with the turn and temper of your age.

Errors flies from mouth to mouth, from pen to pen, and to destroy it takes ages.

I advise you to go on living solely to enrage those who are paying your annuities. It is the only pleasure I have left.

The most amazing and effective inventions are not those which do most honour to the human genius.

We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard.

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

Translations increase the faults of a work and spoil its beauties.

You can never correct your work well until you have forgotten it.

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

Changing a habit is hard work. But it's harder to find work that would be more fulfilling

My life is a struggle.

Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels.