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Whoever you are, behold your master,
He is, or was, or has to be.
Voltaire
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I am not like a lady at the court of Versailles, who said: 'What a dreadful pity that the bother at the tower of Babel should have got language all mixed up; but for that, everyone would always have spoken French.'
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The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third.
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I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it.
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When his highness sends a ship to Egypt, does he trouble his head whether the mice on board are at their ease or not?
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Clever tyrants are never punished.
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What is madness? To have erroneous perceptions and to reason correctly from them.
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Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
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Such then is the human condition, that to wish greatness for one's country is to wish harm to one's neighbors.
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It is not more surprising to be born twice than once; everything in nature is resurrection.
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In this best of all possible worlds... everything is for the best.
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Men use thought only to justify their wrongdoings, and speech only to conceal their thoughts.
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Work keeps away those three great evils: boredom, vice, and poverty.
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Work keeps us from three great evils, boredom, vice, and poverty.
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"Well! sage Evhemere, what have you seen in all your travels?" "Follies!"
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The English plays are like their English puddings: nobody has any taste for them but themselves.
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It is strange that thought should depend upon the stomach, and still that men with the best stomachs are not always the best thinkers.
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If one must serve, I hold it better to serve a well-bred lion, who is naturally stronger than I am, than two hundred rats of my own breed.
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The history of the world's great leaders is often the story of human folly.
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I cannot guess what may be the fate of Quakerism in America; but I perceive it loses ground daily in England. In all countries, where the established religion is of a mild and tolerating nature, it will at length swallow up all the rest.
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Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels.
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A people that sells its own children is more condemnable than the buyer; this commerce demonstrates our superiority; he who gives himself a master was born to have one.
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Would you console yourself when you die for parting from those with whom you liked to live? Think that they will be soon consoled for your death.
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We can not always oblige; but we can always speak obligingly.
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In this country [England] it is useful from time to time to kill one admiral in order to encourage the others.
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Quote of the day
Joy is like restless day; but peace divine Like quiet night; Lead me, O Lord, — till perfect Day shall shine Through Peace to Light.
Adelaide Anne Procter
Voltaire
Creative Commons
Born:
November 21, 1694
Died:
May 30, 1778
(aged 83)
Bio:
François-Marie Arouet, famous using his pen name Voltaire, was a French writer, deist and philosopher.
Known for:
Candide (1759)
Zadig (1747)
L'Ingénu (1767)
Micromégas
Dictionnaire philosophique (1764)
Most used words:
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god
love
life
work
nature
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time
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Voltaire on Wikipedia
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