Voltaire Quotes

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.

Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.

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

To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd.

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

The public is a ferocious beast; one must either chain it or flee from it.

Injustice in the end produces independence.

The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.

History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

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

There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.