In this article, we’ve collected for you the best Voltaire quotes that have the power to inspire many topics such as: love, friendship, money, common sense, stupidity, and more.
Voltaire Short Biography
François-Marie Arouet, best known as Voltaire, was born on 21 November 1694 in Paris, France. He was a famous writer and philospher.
Voltaire studied at Louis-le-Grand, a jesuit college in Paris, where he showed his love to literature and theater as well as he started discovering his talents in writing from an early age.
Voltaire insisted on becoming a writer although his father adviced him over and over again to continue his high studies in law.
In 1973, he became a secratary at the French Embassy, but the goverment called him to come back home after he started loving a French protestant girl.
Voltaire was very critical of the French government. As a result, he was put in prison in Bastille in 1977 after mocking the Duke of Orleans.
A year later, he got his freedom and he started calling himself as Voltaire, the name whose origin is unknown. Also, he released his first tragedy ‘Oedipe’ in the same year. After a short time, he started achieving success as a court poet.
Voltaire loved writing so much that he wrote more than 50 plays. But many of his work was not allowed by the French government because of his thoughts about the Roman Catholic Church. For this reason, Voltaire would print his works outside France.
So, here are the best Voltaire quotes with hope they can inspire and motivate you.
16 Voltaire Quotes from Candide
“But there must be some pleasure in condemning everything–in perceiving faults where others think they see beauties.’ / ‘You mean there is pleasure in having no pleasure.”-Voltaire
“Our labor preserves us from three great evils — weariness, vice, and want.”
“Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part, I read only to please myself, and like only what suits my taste.”
“Optimism…the obstinacy of maintaining that everything is best when it is worst.”
“Let us cultivate our garden.”
“When a man is in love, jealous, and just whipped by the Inquisition, he is no longer himself.”
“Come! Your presence will either give me life or kill me with pleasure.”
“Let us work without reasoning,’ said Martin; ‘it is the only way to make life endurable.”
“It is love; love, the comfort of the human species, the preserver of the universe, the soul of all sentient beings, love, tender love.”
“If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?”
“…man was born to live either in the convulsions of misery or in the lethargy of boredom.”
“But for what purpose was the earth formed?” asked Candide. “To drive us mad,” replied Martin.”
“Fools admire everything in an author of reputation.”
“I hold firmly to my original views. After all, I am a philosopher.”
“All men are by nature free; you have therefore an undoubted liberty to depart whenever you please, but will have many and great difficulties to encounter in passing the frontiers.”
“I have seen so many extraordinary things that nothing seems extraordinary to me.”
8 Life Quotes by Voltaire
“Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her; but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.”-Voltaire
“We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.”
“Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.”
“Don’t think money does everything, or you are going to end up doing everything for money.”
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”
“It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.”
“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.”
“God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.”
9 Voltaire Quotes on Government, Power, and Truth
“The art of government consists in taking as much money as possible to a class of citizens to give to another.”-Voltaire
“Love truth, but pardon error.”
“It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.”
“Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one.”
“Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it.”
“Politics has its source in evil than in the greatness of the human spirit.”
“Let the laws be clear, uniform and precise for interpreting laws is always to corrupt them.”
“If you want good laws, burn those you have and make new ones.”
“All men have equal rights to liberty, to their property, and to the protection of the laws.”
8 Quotes on Knowledge, Learning, and Common Sense
“The most original writers borrowed one from another. The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbor’s, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.”-Voltaire
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
“Common sense is not so common.”
“Dare to think for yourself.”
“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”
“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”
“All the known world, excepting only savage nations, is governed by books.”
“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.”
5 Voltaire Quotes on Grief, Death, and Suffering
“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”-Voltaire
“Tears are the silent language of grief.”
“The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.”
“Secret griefs are crueler than public calamities.”
“Madness is to think of too many things in succession too fast, or of one thing too exclusively.”
9 Quotes on Joy, Love, and Friendship
“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
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”
“The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood.”
“We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one.”
“Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.”
“A man loved by a beautiful woman will always get out of trouble.”
“The ear is the avenue to the heart.”
“Whatever you do, crush the infamous thing, and love those who love you.”
“Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce.”
9 Voltaire Quotes on Humanity
“Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.”-Voltaire
“All mortals are equal; it is not their birth, But virtue itself that makes the difference.”
“It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.”
“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.”
“It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.”
“The secret of being a bore is to tell everything.”
“Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.”
“It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.”
“History never repeats itself. Man always does.”
6 Other Quotes and Sayings
“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.”-Voltaire
“Perfect is the enemy of good.”
“Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.”
“Beware of the words internal security, for they are the eternal cry of the oppressor.”
“Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too.”
“The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”
Lates Thoughts About Voltaire Quotes
We hope that you enjoyed reading the above Voltaire quotes. Even after his death, Voltaire continues to inspire many people around the world by his literary works and thought-provoking quotes.
Finally, which quote from the above list of Voltaire quotes did you like the most? Please let us know in the comments section below.
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