Voltaire Quotes

351 Sourced Quotes

Descartes constructed as noble a road of science, from the point at which he found geometry to that to which he carried it, as Newton himself did after him.... He carried this spirit of geometry and invention into optics, which under him became a completely new art.

Voltaire
We are going to a new world... and no doubt it is there that everything is for the best; for it must be admitted that one might lament a little over the physical and moral happenings of our own world.

Voltaire
The rude beginnings of every art acquire a greater celebrity than the art in perfection; he who first played the fiddle was looked upon as a demigod.

Voltaire
True science necessarily carries tolerance with it.

Voltaire
All the citizens of a state cannot be equally powerful, but they may be equally free

Voltaire
What! Have you no monks to teach, to dispute, to govern, to intrigue and to burn people who do not agree with them?

Voltaire
Those who think are excessively few; and those few do not set themselves to disturb the world.

Voltaire
The abuse of grace is affectation, as the abuse of the sublime is absurdity; all perfection is nearly a fault.

Voltaire
But of all the sciences, the most absurd, and that which in my opinion, is most calculated to stifle genius of every kind, is geometry. The objects about which this ridiculous science is conversant are surfaces, lines, and points, that have no existence in nature.

Voltaire
A lady of honor may be raped once, but it strengthens her virtue.

Voltaire
What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason.

Voltaire
He who cannot shine by thought, seeks to bring himself into notice by a witticism.

Voltaire
He who has heard the thing told by twelve thousand eyewitnesses, has only twelve thousand probabilities, equal to one strong probability, which is not equal to certainty.

Voltaire
If there are atheists, who is to be blamed if not the mercenary tyrants of souls who, in revolting us against their swindles, compel some feeble spirits to deny the God whom these monsters dishonour?

Voltaire
It was decided by the university of Coimbre that the sight of several persons being slowly burned in great ceremony is an infallible secret for preventing earthquakes.

Voltaire
The question of good and evil remains in irremediable chaos for those who seek to fathom it in reality. It is mere mental sport to the disputants, who are captives that play with their chains.

Voltaire
The instinct of a man is to pursue everything that flies from him, and to fly from all that pursue him.

Voltaire
The Devil should not try his tricks on a clever physician. Those familiar with nature are dangerous for the wonderworkers. I advise the Devil always to apply to the faculty of theology — not to the medical faculty.

Voltaire
No one is ignorant that our character and turn of mind are intimately connected with the water-closet.

Voltaire
All certainty which does not consist in mathematical demonstration is nothing more than the highest probability; there is no other historical certainty.

Voltaire
Before receiving your instruction, I must tell you what happened to me one day. I had just had a closet built at the end of my garden. I heard a mole arguing with a cockchafer; 'Here's a fine structure,' said the mole, 'it must have been a very powerful mole who did this work.' 'You're joking,' said the cockchafer; 'it's a cockchafer full of genius who is the architect of this building.' From that moment I resolved never to argue.

Voltaire
When we cannot use the compass of mathematics or the torch of experience... it is certain that we cannot take a single step forward.

Voltaire
We are astonished at thought, but sensation is equally wonderful.

Voltaire
"I have no more than twenty acres of ground," he replied, "the whole of which I cultivate myself with the help of my children; and our labor keeps off from us the three great evils - boredom, vice, and want."

Voltaire
Geometry, if we consider it in its true light, is a mere jest, and nothing more.

Voltaire
Men, generally going with the stream, seldom judge for themselves, and purity of taste is almost as rare as talent.

Voltaire
Let each of us boldly and honestly say: How little it is that I really know!

Voltaire
The prudent man does himself good; the virtuous one does it to other men.

Voltaire
Opinion is called the queen of the world; it is so, for when reason opposes it, it is condemned to death. It must rise twenty times from its ashes to gradually drive away the usurper.

Voltaire
It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.

Voltaire