Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day. Voltaire More Quotes by Voltaire More Quotes From Voltaire I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it. Voltaire god life funny Villains are undone by what is worst in them, heroes by what is best. Voltaire undone villain hero Pleasure has its time; so too, has wisdom. Make love in thy youth, and in old age attend to thy salvation. Voltaire youth making-love age Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others? Voltaire learning wisdom wise War is the greatest of all crimes; and yet there is no aggressor who does not color his crime with the pretext of justice. Voltaire color justice war The atheists are for the most part imprudent and misguided scholars who reason badly who, not being able to understand the Creation, the origin of evil, and other difficulties, have recourse to the hypothesis the eternity of things and of inevitability. Voltaire atheism atheist evil Every one should be his own physician. We ought to assist, and not to force nature. Eat with moderation...Nothing is good for the body but what we can digest. What medicine can procure digestion? Exercise. What will recruit strength? Sleep. Voltaire dark exercise sleep I would rather obey a fine lion, much stronger than myself, than two hundred rats of my own species. Voltaire stronger lions two I believe that there never was a creator of a philosophical system who did not confess at the end of his life that he had wasted his time. It must be admitted that the inventors of the mechanical arts have been much more useful to men that the inventors of syllogisms. He who imagined a ship towers considerably above him who imagined innate ideas. Voltaire philosophical believe art Every sensible man, every honest man, must hold the Christian sect in horror. But what shall we substitute in its place? you say. What? A ferocious animal has sucked the blood of my relatives. I tell you to rid yourselves of this beast, and you ask me what you shall put in its place ? Voltaire christian animal men It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster. Voltaire brother monsters men The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death. Voltaire honesty fear integrity The tyranny of the many would be when one body takes over the rights of others, and then exercises its power to change the laws in its favor. Voltaire rights law exercise It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue. Voltaire sarcastic mind funny The institution of religion exists only to keep mankind in order, and to make men merit the goodness of God by their virtue. Everything in a religion which does not tend towards this goal must be considered foreign or dangerous. Voltaire goal men order Tears are the silent language of grief. Voltaire grief condolences sympathy It requires twenty years for a man to rise from the vegetable state in which he is within his mother's womb, and from the pure animal state which is the lot of his early childhood, to the state when the maturity of reason begins to appear. It has required thirty centuries to learn a little about his structure. It would need eternity to learn something about his soul. It takes an instant to kill him. Voltaire maturity mother men Exaggeration, the inseparable companion of greatness. Voltaire inseparable companion greatness Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value - zero. Voltaire zero historical paper What is madness? To have erroneous perceptions and to reason correctly from them. Voltaire madness perception reason
