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
names causes effects
There is no such thing as an accident. What we call by that name is the effect of some cause which we do not see.
powerful garden atheism
Before receiving your instruction, I must tell you what happened to me one day. I had just had a closet built at the end of my garden. I heard a mole arguing with a cockchafer; 'Here's a fine structure,' said the mole, 'it must have been a very powerful mole who did this work.' 'You're joking,' said the cockchafer; 'it's a cockchafer full of genius who is the architect of this building.' From that moment I resolved never to argue.
philosophy cutting doubt
I read these words which are the sum of all moral philosophy, and which cut short all the disputes of the casuists: When in doubt if an action is good or bad, refrain.
men want moments
Man is free the moment he wants to be.
luck annoying
Nothing is more annoying than to be obscurely hanged.
revenge book able
Never having been able to succeed in the world, he took his revenge by speaking ill of it.
astrology etc astronomy
I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges, astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis, etc..
darkness sunrise quiet
The darkness is at its deepest. Just before the sunrise.
kings should
Friends should be preferred to kings.
christian atheism meteors
Meslier was the most singular phenomenon ever seen among all the meteors fatal to the Christian religion.
enemy weapons use
Nothing is so common as to imitate one's enemies, and to use their weapons.
way
Everyone places his good where he can and has as much of it as he can, in his own way.
men order goal
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.
kings men history
He was not the greatest of men but he was the greatest of kings.