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
powerful equality may
All the citizens of a state cannot be equally powerful, but they may be equally free
second-chance law firsts
It is the first law of friendship that it has to be cultivated. The second is to be indulgent when the first law is neglected.
sympathy grief condolences
Tears are the silent language of grief.
knowledge learning men
Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.
wisdom philosopher lovers
Philosopher: A lover of wisdom, which is to say, Truth.
life play hands
You have no control over the hand that life deals you, but how you play that hand is entirely up to you.
education wisdom book
The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.
guilty
We are all guilty of the good we did not do
law opinion cry
The opinion of all lawyers, the unanimous cry of the nation, and the good of the state, are in themselves a law.
men sea giving
And ask each passenger to tell his story, and if there is one of them all who has not cursed his existence many times, and said to himself over and over again that he was the most miserable of men, I give you permission to throw me head-first into the sea.
stupid heart love-life
I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?
yoga thinking meditation-practice
Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.
love-is self giving
This self-love is the instrument of our preservation; it resembles the provision for the perpetuity of mankind: it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives us pleasure, and we must conceal it.
garden improvement
Let us cultivate our garden.