Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Quotations: Voltaire

From this website:

A witty saying proves nothing.


All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.
As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.
  • An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
  • The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.
Comment: Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. Johnson. jad

Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.

Comment: But since we often don't understand, or even wish to understand causes, treating something as chance is not only common sense, but very efficient. jad

Common sense is not so common.

Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien.
  • Better is the enemy of good.
  • The perfect is the enemy of the good.
  • The best is the enemy of the good.

Comment: But the good is the enemy of the stupid. jad

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.

He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.

He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.

I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.

In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.

Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.

It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.

Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.

Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world.

Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry always gets the best of the argument.
No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.

No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.

Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.

One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.
Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.

Prejudices are what fools use for reason.

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.
The multitude of books is making us ignorant.

The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.

The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.

There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.

We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard.

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