Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet, known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth21 November 1694
CityParis, France
CountryFrance
wise wisdom
Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?
life years found-you
Who are you, Nature? I live in you; for fifty years I have been seeking you, and I have not found you yet.
long brain ontology
We admit, in geometry, not only infinite magnitudes, that is to say, magnitudes greater than any assignable magnitude, but infinite magnitudes infinitely greater, the one than the other. This astonishes our dimension of brains, which is only about six inches long, five broad, and six in depth, in the largest heads.
eels flour ifs
If God did not exist, he would have to be invented.
enemy
Now is not the time for making new enemies.
garden
It is up to us to cultivate our garden.
liars silly men
Do you think... that men have always massacred each other, as they do today? Have they always been liars, cheats, traitors, brigands, weak, flighty, cowardly, envious, gluttonous, drunken, grasping, and vicious, bloody, backbiting, debauched, fanatical, hypocritical, and silly?
burning earth few men opens persecute preachers teach
What will the preachers say? ... to teach men not to persecute men: for, while a few sanctimonious humbugs are burning a few fanatics, the earth opens and swallows up all alike.
hear news sacrament wait
When we hear news we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation
money humor religion
When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.
cover covers manifest religion secret settled society wherever
Wherever there is a settled society, religion is necessary; the laws cover manifest crimes, and religion covers secret crimes.
condemned criminals good hanged man public serves works
Let the punishments of criminals be useful. A hanged man is good for nothing; a man condemned to public works still serves the country, and is a living lesson.
religion subject
Such is the feebleness of humanity, such is its perversity, that doubtless it is better for it to be subject to all possible superstitions, as long as they are not murderous, than to live without religion.
country
Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.