Voltaire quotes
French Enlightenment satirist and crusader for civil liberty. Candide remains a masterwork of philosophical wit.
15 passages across 8 themes. More on Voltaire.
On freedom
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
“If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?”
“Our labour preserves us from three great evils -- weariness, vice, and want.”
“Religion may be purified. This great work was begun two hundred years ago: but men can only bear light to come in upon them by degrees.”
On wisdom
“Common sense is not so common.”
“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”
“Fools admire everything in an author of reputation.”
On truth
“Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.”
“Optimism, said Cacambo, What is that? Alas! replied Candide, It is the obstinacy of maintaining that everything is best when it is worst!”
“A false science makes atheists, a true science prostrates men before the Deity”
On action
“The perfect is the enemy of the good.”
On time
“If I had had more time, this letter would have been shorter.”
On anger
“If there were only one religion in England there would be danger of despotism, if there were two they would cut each other's throats, but there are thirty, and they live in peace and happiness.”
On love
“In every province, the chief occupations, in order of importance, are lovemaking, malicious gossip, and talking nonsense.”
On mind
“Let us work without reasoning, said Martin; it is the only way to make life endurable.”