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
funny government needs
Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.
heart hug want
I have been a hundred times on the point of killing myself, but still was fond of life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our worst instincts. What can be more absurd than choosing to carry a burden that one really wants to throw to the ground? To detest, and yet to strive to preserve our existence? To caress the serpent that devours us, and hug him close to our bosoms till he has gnawed into our hearts?
fear virtue
Fear could never make virtue.
peace war ubuntu
To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.
thinking power ideas
What then do you call your soul? What idea have you of it? You cannot of yourselves, without revelation, admit the existence within you of anything but a power unknown to you of feeling and thinking.
dream world watches
The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.
excellent middle dregs
Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent.
independent greatness men
Great men have all been formed either before academies or independent of them.
insane earth asylums
If there’s life on other planets, then the earth is the Universe’s insane asylum.
perfection perfect enemy
Perfect is the enemy of good.
religious sleep exercise
So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.
art perfection rude
The rude beginnings of every art acquire a greater celebrity than the art in perfection; he who first played the fiddle was looked upon as a demigod.
attitude two important
I am a little deaf, a little blind, a little important and on top of this are two or three abominable infirmities, but nothing destroys my hope.
soul feelings poetry-is
Poetry is the music of the soul, and, above all, of great and feeling souls.