The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Problem of evil2 quotes
All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. — Voltaire · 1759If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others? — Voltaire · 1759War2 quotes
God is on the side not of the heavy battalions, but of the best shots. — Voltaire · 1750Even in those cities which seem to enjoy the blessings of peace, and where the arts flourish, the inhabitants are devoured by envy, cares and anxieties, which are greater plagues than any experienced in a town when it is under siege. — Voltaire · 1759Approaching death1 quote
I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition. — Voltaire · 1778Certainty1 quote
Doubt is not a pleasant condition. But certainty is an absurd one. — Voltaire · 1770Common sense1 quote
Common sense is not so common. — Voltaire · 1764Democracy1 quote
When the masses get involved in reasoning, everything is lost. — Voltaire · 1766Doubt and skepticism1 quote
Doubt is not a pleasant condition. But certainty is an absurd one. — Voltaire · 1770Doubt vs. certainty1 quote
Doubt is not a pleasant condition. But certainty is an absurd one. — Voltaire · 1770Enemies1 quote
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it. — Voltaire · 1767Existence of God1 quote
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. — Voltaire · 1768Gardens1 quote
We must cultivate our garden. — Voltaire · 1759God1 quote
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. — Voltaire · 1768God taking sides1 quote
God is on the side not of the heavy battalions, but of the best shots. — Voltaire · 1750Greed1 quote
People have declaimed against luxury for two thousand years, in verse and in prose, and people have always delighted in it. — Voltaire · 1764History1 quote
Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes. — Voltaire · 1767Human nature1 quote
Do you believe that men have always massacred each other as they do to-day, that they have always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates, brigands, idiots, thieves, scoundrels, gluttons, drunkards, misers, envious, ambitious, bloody-minded, calumniators, debauchees, fanatics, hypocrites, and fools? — Voltaire · 1759Legal theory1 quote
It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one. — Voltaire · 1747Love of life1 quote
I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away? — Voltaire · 1759Luxury1 quote
People have declaimed against luxury for two thousand years, in verse and in prose, and people have always delighted in it. — Voltaire · 1764Man and war1 quote
Do you believe that men have always massacred each other as they do to-day, that they have always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates, brigands, idiots, thieves, scoundrels, gluttons, drunkards, misers, envious, ambitious, bloody-minded, calumniators, debauchees, fanatics, hypocrites, and fools? — Voltaire · 1759Martyrdom1 quote
I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom. — Voltaire · 1776Moderation1 quote
Use, do not abuse... Neither abstinence not excess ever renders man happy. — Voltaire · 1738Names1 quote
The agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire is neither holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire. — Voltaire · 1756Nature of the world1 quote
All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. — Voltaire · 1759Nature of truth1 quote
There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times. — Voltaire · 1761New love1 quote
She blushed and so did he. She greeted him in a faltering voice, and he spoke to her without knowing what he was saying. — Voltaire · 1759Oversharing1 quote
The secret of being a bore is to tell everything. — Voltaire · 1738Patriarchy1 quote
It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue. — Voltaire · 1750Peace1 quote
Even in those cities which seem to enjoy the blessings of peace, and where the arts flourish, the inhabitants are devoured by envy, cares and anxieties, which are greater plagues than any experienced in a town when it is under siege. — Voltaire · 1759