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
positive-thinking world pandoras-box
All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.
atheism positive-atheism
What can I hope when all is right?
positive-thinking ancestry needs
Do well and you will have no need for ancestors.
positive funny-inspirational short-life
Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.
inspirational running positive-thinking
Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.
criminals hanged man punishment serve
The punishment of criminals should serve a purpose. When a man is hanged he is useless.
beast chain either ferocious flee public
The public is a ferocious beast -- one must either chain it up or flee from it.
charming french-writer secret telling tiresome
The secret of being tiresome is in telling everything.
america brazil canada decisions economic final reporting security states united
The United States has subcontracted Brazil for security and Canada for economic development. But they're all reporting to Washington. The final decisions are made there,
attitude dying good joke occurred stop
I should stop myself from dying if a good joke or a good idea occurred to me
best french-writer possible
Everything is for the best in this best of possible worlds.
shall
say, "Believe as I do, or I shall assassinate you
above age age-and-aging creature few ideas man raise themselves
Every man is the creature of the age in which he lives; very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time.
beings cure diseases doctors human medicines men prescribe whom
Doctors are men who prescribe medicines of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of whom they know nothing.