Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet, known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth21 November 1694
CityParis, France
CountryFrance
play theatre way
The only way to see the value of a play is to see it acted.
life enjoy-life enjoy
To enjoy life we must touch much of it lightly.
enemy
This is no time to be making new enemies.
men mind malevolence
The malevolence of men revealed itself to his mind in all of its ugliness
cheer mean eating
If we do not exert the right of eating our neighbor, it is because we have other means of making good cheer
keeping-secrets use our-words
One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.
deceived-us quiet deceiving
We must distinguish between speaking to deceive and being silent to be reserved.
succeed multitudes seems
To succeed in chaining the multitude, you must seem to wear the same fetters.
christian atheist men
Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.
men tyrants rogues
The superstitious man is to the rogue what the slave is to the tyrant.
leadership fruit inheritance
The right of commanding is no longer an advantage transmitted by nature; like an inheritance, it is the fruit of labors, the price of courage.
action argument good-actions
A good action is preferable to an argument.
believe intelligent mind
What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason.
play imagination london
Shakespeare is a drunken savage with some imagination whose plays please only in London and Canada.