Ideas are like beards; men do not have them until they grow up. Voltaire More Quotes by Voltaire More Quotes From Voltaire The most genuine and efficacious charity is that which greases the paws of the priests; such charity covers a multitude of sins. Voltaire grease charity atheism Reading nurtures the soul, and an enlightened friend brings it solace. Voltaire enlightened reading soul A witty saying proves nothing, but saying something pointless gets people's attention. Voltaire witty attention people Mortals are equal; their mask differs. Voltaire mask equal equality He who is involved in ecstasies and visions, who takes dreams for reality, and his own imagination for prophesy, is a fanatical novice of great hope and promise, and will soon advance to the higher stage and kill men for the love of God. Voltaire dream men reality Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes. Voltaire dump crime history The Pride of every Jew finds cause to believe that the cause of their down fall is not their detestable politics, or ignorance of social graces, but the raft of God. They believe it took a miracle to undo them. Voltaire religious believe fall There is an astonishing imagination, even in the science of mathematics. ... We repeat, there was far more imagination in the head of Archimedes than in that of Homer. Voltaire imagination math science 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. Voltaire self love-is giving "I have no more than twenty acres of ground," he replied, "the whole of which I cultivate myself with the help of my children; and our labor keeps off from us the three great evils - boredom, vice, and want." Voltaire boredom evil children It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one. Voltaire risk inspirational men The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination. Voltaire tyrants politics government I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom. Voltaire martyrdom affection truth Shun idleness. It is rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals. Voltaire rust brilliant life 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. Voltaire wisdom education book He who doesn't have the spirit of his time, has all its misery. Voltaire spirituality misery spirit Injustice in the end produces independence. Voltaire injustice independence ends Theological religion is the source of all imaginable follies and disturbances. It is the parent of fanaticism and civil discord; it is the enemy of mankind. Voltaire parent religious evil Everything happens through immutable laws, ...everything is necessary... There are, some persons say, some events which are necessary and others which are not. It would be very comic that one part of the world was arranged, and the other were not; that one part of what happens had to happen and that another part of what happens did not have to happen. If one looks closely at it, one sees that the doctrine contrary to that of destiny is absurd; but there are many people destined to reason badly; others not to reason at all others to persecute those who reason. Voltaire destiny law people It is ourselves alone that make our days lucky or unlucky. Away, then, with a vain prejudice, the invention of the priesthood, which has been transmitted by our ancestors to an ignorant people. Voltaire ignorant luck people
