Quotations by Author

Voltaire

Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.

There are some that only employ words for the purpose of disguising their thoughts.

Which is more dangerous: fanaticism or atheism? Fanaticism is certainly a thousand times more deadly; for atheism inspires no bloody passion whereas fanaticism does; atheism is opposed to crime and fanaticism causes crimes to be committed.

As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.

Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.

Common sense is not so common.

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.

It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge.

It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.

It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.

Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world.

Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.

Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.

Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.

Nature has always had more force than education.

Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.

One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.

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

Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.

Originality is nothing by judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.

Paradise was made for tender hearts; hell, for loveless hearts.

Prejudices are what fools use for reason.

Tears are the silent language of grief.

The ear is the avenue to the heart.

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.

The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs.

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.

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

We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.

Gospel: Signifies good news. The good news that the gospel of the Christians came to announce to them that their God is a God of wrath, that he has predestined the far greater number of them to hell-fire, that their happiness depends on their pious imbecility. their holy credulity, their sacred ravings, on the evil they do to one another through hatred of one for another,. . . . and on their antipathy for and persecution of all who do not agree with them or resemble them. Devil: The black sheep of the heavenly hosts, and the main prop of the Church. . . . Without the devil God would cut but a sorry figure at best. The love of God is frequently but the fear of the devil.