Voltaire Quotes

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Voltaire

Profession : Writer

Birth : November 21, 1694

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

Voltaire

One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.

Voltaire

It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.

Voltaire

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.

Voltaire

Woe to the makers of literal translations, who by rendering every word weaken the meaning! It is indeed by so doing that we can say the letter kills and the spirit gives life.

Voltaire

He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.

Voltaire

Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.

Voltaire

Our country is that spot to which our heart is bound.

Voltaire

He shines in the second rank, who is eclipsed in the first.

Voltaire

Use, do not abuse... neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.

Voltaire

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.

Voltaire

Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest.

Voltaire

The flowery style is not unsuitable to public speeches or addresses, which amount only to compliment. The lighter beauties are in their place when there is nothing more solid to say; but the flowery style ought to be banished from a pleading, a sermon, or a didactic work.

Voltaire

We cannot wish for that we know not.

Voltaire

The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.

Voltaire

The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days.

Voltaire

The little may contrast with the great, in painting, but cannot be said to be contrary to it. Oppositions of colors contrast; but there are also colors contrary to each other, that is, which produce an ill effect because they shock the eye when brought very near it.

Voltaire

The multitude of books is making us ignorant.

Voltaire