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
love passion firsts
I loved him as we always love for the first time; with idolatry and wild passion.
funny life god
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.
style addresses speech
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.
death forgiveness nature
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
christian men inspire
Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.
happiness men advice
Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.
world harsh disillusionment
You are very harsh.' 'I have seen the world.
christian rome mind
You will notice that in all disputes between Christians since the birth of the Church, Rome has always favored the doctrine which most completely subjugated the human mind and annihilated reason.
inspirational husband wife
The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself.
men bitter candide
You're a bitter man," said Candide. That's because I've lived," said Martin.
lying play packs
History is a pack of lies we play on the dead.
father book atheism
It is reported in the supplement of the council of Nicæan that the fathers, being very perplexed to know which were the cryphal or apocryphal books of the Old and New Testaments, put them all pell-mell on an altar, and the books to be rejected fell to the ground. It is a pity that this eloquent procedure has not survived.
birthday age misery
He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it.
inspirational accord agree
Je ne suis pas d'accord avec ce que vous dites, mais je d‚fendrai jusqu'... la mort le droit que vous avez de le dire/ I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it