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
crush love-you abuse
Whatever you do, trample down abuses, and love those who love you. Different translation: Whatever you do, crush the infamous thing superstition, and love those who love you.
philosophical poverty comfort
The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor.
father book atheism
It is reported in the supplement of the council of Nicæan that the fathers, being very perplexed to know which were the cryphal or apocryphal books of the Old and New Testaments, put them all pell-mell on an altar, and the books to be rejected fell to the ground. It is a pity that this eloquent procedure has not survived.
tolerance mankind ill
Discord is the great ill of mankind; and tolerance is the only remedy for it.
world harsh disillusionment
You are very harsh.' 'I have seen the world.
gossip tease historian
Historians are gossips who tease the dead
growing-up men ideas
Ideas are like beards; men do not have them until they grow up.
good-day opportunity years
The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year.
atheist religion atheism
Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion that has ever infected the world.
generosity empathy originality
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.
law errors tolerance
What is toleration? It is the prerogative of humanity. We are all steeped in weaknesses and errors: Let us forgive one another's follies, it is the first law of nature.
life thinking consolation
The greatest consolation in life is to say what one thinks.
god spiritual imagine
I cannot imagine how the clockwork of the universe can exist without a clockmaker.
love-is self giving
This self-love is the instrument of our preservation; it resembles the provision for the perpetuity of mankind: it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives us pleasure, and we must conceal it.