xy

@xy, member from Sept. 25, 2023

Favourite quotes (21448)

“"You're a bitter man," said Candide. "That's because I've lived," said Martin.”

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

Citas, Candide (1759)

“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.”

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

Citas, Candide (1759)

“Let the punishments of criminals be useful. A hanged man is good for nothing; a man condemned to public works still serves the country, and is a living lesson.”

Voltaire Dictionnaire philosophique

Que les supplices des criminels soient utiles. Un homme pendu n’est bon à rien, et un homme condamné aux ouvrages publics sert encore la patrie, et est une leçon vivante.
"Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws," Dictionnaire philosophique (1785-1789)
The Dictionnaire philosophique was a posthumously published collection of articles combining the Dictionnaire philosophique portatif (published under various editions and titles from 1764 to 1777), the Questions sur l'Encyclopédie (published from 1770 to 1774), articles written for the Encyclopédie and the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, the manuscript known as l'Opinion sur l'alphabet and a number of previously published miscellaneous articles.
Citas

“If you want good laws, burn those you have and make new ones.”

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

Voulez-vous avoir de bonnes lois; brûlez les vôtres, et faites-en de nouvelles. "Laws" http://www.voltaire-integral.com/Html/19/lois.htm (1765) Citas, Dictionnaire philosophique (1764)

“This body which called itself and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.”

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

Ce corps qui s'appelait et qui s'appelle encore le saint empire romain n'était en aucune manière ni saint, ni romain, ni empire.
Essai sur l'histoire générale et sur les mœurs et l'esprit des nations, Chapter 70 (1756)
Citas

“I cannot imagine how the clockwork of the universe can exist without a clockmaker.”

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

As attributed in More Random Walks in Science : An Anthology (1982) by Robert L. Weber, p. 65
Attributed

“Love truth, but pardon error.”

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

Aime la vérité, mais pardonne à l'erreur.
"Deuxième discours: de la liberté," Sept Discours en Vers sur l'Homme (1738)
Citas

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

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

La superstition est à la religion ce que l’astrologie est à l’astronomie, la fille très folle d’une mère très sage. Ces deux filles ont longtemps subjugué toute la terre.
"Whether it is useful to maintain the people in superstition," Treatise on Toleration (1763)
Citas

“Money is always to be found when men are to be sent to the frontiers to be destroyed: when the object is to preserve them, it is no longer so.”

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

On en trouve [l'argent] toujours quand il s’agit d’aller faire tuer des hommes sur la frontière: il n’y en a plus quand il faut les sauver.
"Charity" (1770)
Citas, Questions sur l'Encyclopédie (1770–1774)

“Nothing is so common as to imitate one's enemies, and to use their weapons.”

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

Rien n’est si ordinaire que d’imiter ses ennemis, et d’employer leurs armes.
"Oracles" (1770)
Citas, Questions sur l'Encyclopédie (1770–1774)

“Ours is assuredly the most ridiculous, the most absurd and the most bloody religion which has ever infected this world.Your Majesty will do the human race an eternal service by extirpating this infamous superstition, I do not say among the rabble, who are not worthy of being enlightened and who are apt for every yoke; I say among honest people, among men who think, among those who wish to think. … My one regret in dying is that I cannot aid you in this noble enterprise, the finest and most respectable which the human mind can point out.”

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

La nôtre [religion] est sans contredit la plus ridicule, la plus absurde, et la plus sanguinaire qui ait jamais infecté le monde.Votre Majesté rendra un service éternel au genre humain en détruisant cette infâme superstition, je ne dis pas chez la canaille, qui n’est pas digne d’être éclairée, et à laquelle tous les jougs sont propres; je dis chez les honnêtes gens, chez les hommes qui pensent, chez ceux qui veulent penser... Je ne m’afflige de toucher à la mort que par mon profond regret de ne vous pas seconder dans cette noble entreprise, la plus belle et la plus respectable qui puisse signaler l’esprit humain. Letters of Voltaire and Frederick the Great (New York: Brentano's, 1927), transl. Richard Aldington, letter 156 from Voltaire to Frederick II of Prussia, 5 January 1767 http://perso.orange.fr/dboudin/VOLTAIRE/45/1767/6651.html Often misquoted as "Christianity is...", while in the context, Voltaire was referring specifically to Catholicism. Citas

“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”

Voltaire Épître à l'Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs

Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer. Variant translation: If there was no God, It would be necessary to invent him. Épître à l'Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs (10 November 1770) For the background of the quote see this source: Yeh, Anthony (July 3, 2011). "What did Voltaire mean when he said that "if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him"?" http://archive.is/Rt53S. Quora. Archived from the original https://www.quora.com/What-did-Voltaire-mean-when-he-said-that-if-God-did-not-exist-it-would-be-necessary-to-invent-him on October 27, 2017. Retrieved October 27, 2017. Citas

“In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.”

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

En général, l’art du gouvernement consiste à prendre le plus d’argent qu’on peut à une grande partie des citoyens, pour le donner à une autre partie.
"Money" (1770)
Citas, Questions sur l'Encyclopédie (1770–1774)

“A minister of state is excusable for the harm he does when the helm of government has forced his hand in a storm; but in the calm he is guilty of all the good he does not do.”

Voltaire Le Siècle de Louis XIV

Un ministre est excusable du mal qu’il fait, lorsque le gouvernail de l’État est forcé dans sa main par les tempêtes; mais dans le calme il est coupable de tout le bien qu’il ne fait pas.
Le Siècle de Louis XIV, ch. VI: "État de la France jusqu’à la mort du cardinal Mazarin en 1661" (1752) Unsourced paraphrase or variant translation: Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
Citas

“Defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies.”

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

Garantissez-moi de mes amis, écrivait Gourville proscrit et fugitif, je saurai me défendre de mes ennemis. ("Defend me from my friends," wrote Gourville, exile and fugitive, "I can defend myself from my enemies.") — Gabriel Sénac de Meilhan, Considérations sur l'esprit et les moeurs (1788): "De L'Amitié." Sénac de Meilhan was quoting Jean Hérault, sieur de Gourville (1625 - 1703).
The remark has often been attributed to Voltaire and to Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars.
Misattributed

“It is very strange that men should deny a creator and yet attribute to themselves the power of creating eels.”

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

From the Philosophic Dictionary, as quoted in The life of Pasteur http://archive.org/stream/scienceandscient029493mbp/scienceandscient029493mbp_djvu.txt (1902) Citas

“The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”

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

According to The Veterinarian (Monthly Journal of Veterinary Science) for 1851, edited by Mr. Percivall, this is Ben Jonson's "satirical definition of physic".
Misattributed

“It requires twenty years for a man to rise from the vegetable state in which he is within his mother's womb, and from the pure animal state which is the lot of his early childhood, to the state when the maturity of reason begins to appear. It has required thirty centuries to learn a little about his structure. It would need eternity to learn something about his soul. It takes an instant to kill him.”

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

Il faut vingt ans pour mener l’homme de l’état de plante où il est dans le ventre de sa mère, et de l’état de pur animal, qui est le partage de sa première enfance, jusqu’à celui où la maturité de la raison commence à poindre. Il a fallu trente siècles pour connaître un peu sa structure. Il faudrait l’éternité pour connaître quelque chose de son âme. Il ne faut qu’un instant pour le tuer.
"Man: General Reflection on Man" (1771)
Citas, Questions sur l'Encyclopédie (1770–1774)

“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.”

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

Stanisław Jerzy Lec, More Unkempt Thoughts [Myśli nieuczesane nowe] (1964)
Misattributed

“To hold a pen is to be at war.”

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

Qui plume a, guerre a.
Letter to Jeanne-Grâce Bosc du Bouchet, comtesse d'Argental (4 October 1748)
This remark also appears in a letter to Marie-Louise Denis (22 May 1752): To hold a pen is to be at war. This world is one vast temple consecrated to discord [Qui plume a, guerre a. Ce monde est un vaste temple dédié à la discorde].
Citas