xy

@xy, member from Sept. 25, 2023

Favourite quotes (21448)

“Even in those cities which seem to enjoy the blessings of peace, and where the arts florish, the inhabitants are devoured by envy, cares and anxieties, which are greater plagues than any experienced in a town when it is under siege.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Citas, Candide (1759)

“Such then is the human condition, that to wish greatness for one's country is to wish harm to one's neighbors.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Telle est donc la condition humaine que souhaiter la grandeur de son pays, c’est souhaiter du mal à ses voisins.
"Fatherland" (1764)
Citas, Dictionnaire philosophique (1764)

“Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

In George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman, act II, there is the following dialogue: TANNER: Let me remind you that Voltaire said that what was too silly to be said could be sung. STRAKER. It wasn't Voltaire: it was Bow Mar Shay. TANNER. I stand corrected: Beaumarchais of course. This quote has also been attributed to Joseph Addison. In The Spectator, 21 March 1711 http://www.hoasm.org/VIIA/Spectator3-21-11.html, Addison wrote of "an establish'd Rule, which is receiv'd as such to this Day, That nothing is capable of being well set to Musick, that is not Nonsense." Misattributed Source: "Nowadays what isn't worth saying is sung" (Aujourd'hui ce qui ne vaut pas la peine d'être dit, on le chante) — Pierre de Beaumarchais, Le Barbier de Séville (1775), act I, scene II.

“Faith consists in believing what reason cannot.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

La foi consiste à croire ce que la raison ne croit pas.
"The Flood" (1764)
Citas, Dictionnaire philosophique (1764)

“One always speaks badly when one has nothing to say.”

Voltaire book Commentaires sur Corneille

On parle toujours mal quand on n'a rien à dire.
"Commentaires sur Corneille," Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire (1827)
Citas

“When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Quand il s’agit d’argent, tout le monde est de la même religion.
Letter to Mme. d'Épinal, Ferney (26 December 1760) from Oeuvres Complètes de Voltaire: Correspondance (Garnier frères, Paris, 1881), vol. IX, letter # 4390 (p. 124)
Citas

“The Jewish nation dares to display an irreconcilable hatred toward all nations, and revolts against all masters; always superstitious, always greedy for the well-being enjoyed by others, always barbarous — cringing in misfortune and insolent in prosperity.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Elle [la nation juive] ose étaler une haine irréconciliable contre toutes les nations; elle se révolte contre tous ses maîtres. Toujours superstitieuse, toujours avide du bien d’autrui, toujours barbare, rampante dans le malheur, et insolente dans la prospérité. Essai sur les Moeurs et l'Esprit des Nations (1753), Introduction, XLII: Des Juifs depuis Saül http://www.voltaire-integral.com/Html/11/07INTFIN.html#i42 Citas

“It is a serious question among them whether they [Africans] are descended from monkeys or whether the monkeys come from them. Our wise men have said that man was created in the image of God. Now here is a lovely image of the Divine Maker: a flat and black nose with little or hardly any intelligence. A time will doubtless come when these animals will know how to cultivate the land well, beautify their houses and gardens, and know the paths of the stars: one needs time for everything.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

C’est une grande question parmi eux s’ils [les africains] sont descendus des singes ou si les singes sont venus d’eux. Nos sages ont dit que l’homme est l’image de Dieu: voilà une plaisante image de l’Être éternel qu’un nez noir épaté, avec peu ou point d’intelligence! Un temps viendra, sans doute, où ces animaux sauront bien cultiver la terre, l’embellir par des maisons et par des jardins, et connaître la route des astres il faut du temps pour tout. Les Lettres d'Amabed (1769): Septième Lettre d'Amabed http://www.voltaire-integral.com/Html/21/10AMABED.html Citas

“Let us work without reasoning," said Martin; "it is the only way to make life endurable.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Citas, Candide (1759)

“Define your terms, you will permit me again to say, or we shall never understand one another.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Définissez les termes, vous dis-je, ou jamais nous ne nous entendrons. "Miracles" http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/voltaire-the-works-of-voltaire-vol-vi-philosophical-dictionary-part-4 (1764) Citas, Dictionnaire philosophique (1764)

“The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture for wild beasts to fight in.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Les anciens Romains élevaient des prodiges d'architecture pour faire combattre des bêtes.
Letter addressed to "un premier commis" [name unknown] (20 June 1733), from Oeuvres Complètes de Voltaire: Correspondance [Garnier frères, Paris, 1880], vol. I, letter # 343 (p. 354)
Citas

“The man, who in a fit of melancholy, kills himself today, would have wished to live had he waited a week.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Tel homme qui dans un excès de mélancolie se tue aujourd’hui aimerait à vivre s’il attendait huit jours. "Cato" http://www.voltaire-integral.com/Html/18/caton.htm (1764) Citas, Dictionnaire philosophique (1764)

“Where there is friendship, there is our natural soil.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Où est l'amitié est la patrie.
Letter to Nicolas-Claude Thieriot (1734)
Citas

“May we not return to those scoundrels of old, the illustrious founders of superstition and fanaticism, who first took the knife from the altar to make victims of those who refused to be their disciples?”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Ne peut-on pas remonter jusqu’à ces anciens scélérats, fondateurs illustres de la superstition et du fanatisme, qui, les premiers, ont pris le couteau sur l’autel pour faire des victimes de ceux qui refusaient d’etre leurs disciples? Letter to Frederick II of Prussia (December 1740), published in Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire, Vol. 7 (1869) http://books.google.com/books?id=z9MWAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105#v=onepage&q&f=false, edited by Georges Avenel, p. 105; as translated by Richard Aldington Citas

“Virtue is debased by self-justification.”

Voltaire Oedipus

Oedipe, act II, scene IV (1718)
Citas

“His reputation will go on increasing because scarcely anyone reads him.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Sa réputation s’affermira toujours, parce qu’on ne le lit guère. "Dante http://www.voltaire-integral.com/Html/18/dante.htm" (1765) Citas, Dictionnaire philosophique (1764)

“All philosophical sects have run aground on the reef of moral and physical ill. It only remains for us to confess that God, having acted for the best, had not been able to do better.”

Voltaire Dictionnaire philosophique

Toutes les sectes des philosophes ont échoué contre l’écueil du mal physique et moral. Il ne reste que d’avouer que Dieu ayant agi pour le mieux n’a pu agir mieux.
"Power, Omnipotence," Dictionnaire philosophique (1785-1789)
Citas

“I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges, astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis, etc. It does not behoove us, who were only savages and barbarians when these Indians and Chinese peoples were civilized and learned, to dispute their antiquity.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Voltaire, quoted in Sanskrit Reader 1: A Reader in Sanskrit Literature by Heiko Kretschmer
Citas

“The institution of religion exists only to keep mankind in order, and to make men merit the goodness of God by their virtue. Everything in a religion which does not tend towards this goal must be considered foreign or dangerous.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

" The Ecclesiastical Ministry http://history.hanover.edu/texts/voltaire/voleccle.html" Citas, Dictionnaire philosophique (1764)

“All of the other people have committed crimes, the Jews are the only ones who have boasted about committing them. They are, all of them, born with raging fanaticism in their hearts, just as the Bretons and the Germans are born with blond hair. I would not be in the least bit surprised if these people would not some day become deadly to the human race.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Tous les autres peuples ont commis des crimes, les Juifs sont les seuls qui s'en soient vantés. Ils sont tous nés avec la rage du fanatisme dans le cœur, comme les Bretons et les Germains naissent avec des cheveux blonds. Je ne serais point étonné que cette nation ne fût un jour funeste au genre humain.
Lettres de Memmius a Cicéron (1771)
Citas