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
book fire light
It is with books as with the fires of our grates, everybody borrows a light from his neighbor to kindle his own, which in turn is communicated to others, and each partakes of all.
nature order eels
If God did not exist, He would have to be invented. But all nature cries aloud that he does exist: that there is a supreme intelligence, an immense power, an admirable order, and everything teaches us our own dependence on it.
atheist common-sense religion
Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.
editors style answers
If you are attacked as regards your style, never reply; it is for your work alone to make answer.
love-is self preservation-of-life
Self love is the instrument of our preservation.
men order doctors
Let us therefore reject all superstition in order to become more human; but in speaking against fanaticism, let us not imitate the fanatics: they are sick men in delirium who want to chastise their doctors. Let us assuage their ills, and never embitter them, and let us pour drop by drop into their souls the divine balm of toleration, which they would reject with horror if it were offered to them all at once.
rights history should
What would constitute useful history? That which should teach us our duties and our rights, without appearing to teach them.
government democracy form
An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
prayer philosophy made
We offer up prayers to god only because we have made him after our own image. We treat him like a pasha, or a sultan, who is capable of being exasperated and appeased.
perception madness reason
What is madness? To have erroneous perceptions and to reason correctly from them.
animal two evil
There are two things for which animals are to be envied: they know nothing of future evils, or of what people say about them.
lying agree
What is history? The lie that everyone agrees on...
truth receipts infallible
To announce truths is an infallible receipt for being persecuted.
moving men poetry
Verses which do not teach men new and moving truths do not deserve to be read.