VOLTAIRE

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.

The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice.

Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.

When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.

What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature.

Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him.

I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.

The superfluous, a very necessary thing.

Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.

He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.

My life is a struggle.

Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest.

To hold a pen is to be at war.

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.

History should be written as philosophy.

Clever tyrants are never punished.

By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.

The flowery style is not unsuitable to public speeches or addresses, which amount only to compliment. The lighter beauties are in their place when there is nothing more solid to say; but the flowery style ought to be banished from a pleading, a sermon, or a didactic work.

We must distinguish between speaking to deceive and being silent to be reserved.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days.

God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.

Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce.

It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape.

Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel.