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

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
— Voltaire

"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it."
— Voltaire

"Love truth, but pardon error"
— Voltaire

"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets."
— Voltaire

"Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers"
— Voltaire

"Common sense is not so common."
— Voltaire

"God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere."
— Voltaire

"God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh."
— Voltaire

"Ice-cream is exquisite.
What a pity it isn't illegal."
— Voltaire

"If we believe absurdities we shall commit atrocities."
— Voltaire

"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

" It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."
— Voltaire

"No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible."
— Voltaire

"A witty saying proves nothing. "
— Voltaire

"Dare to think for yourself."
— Voltaire

"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."
— Voltaire

"It is with books as with men: a very small number play a great part."
— Voltaire

"The secret of being a bore is to tell everything."
— Voltaire

"Doubt is uncomfortable, certainty is ridiculous."
— Voltaire

"Anything too stupid to be said is sung. "
— Voltaire

"Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do."
— Voltaire

"The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing."
— Voltaire

"“It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.”"
— Voltaire

"The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe."
— Voltaire

"'I should like to know which is worse: to be raped a hundred times by pirates, and have a buttock cut off, and run the gauntlet of the Bulgars, and be flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, and be dissected, and have to row in a galley -- in short, to undergo all the miseries we have each of us suffered -- or simply to sit here and do nothing?'
'That is a hard question,' said Candide."
— Voltaire (Candide, or Optimism)

"Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe"
— Voltaire

"Now, now my good man, this is no time to be making enemies."
Voltaire on his deathbed in response to a priest asking him that he renounce Satan"
— Voltaire

"The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor."
— Voltaire

"We must cultivate our garden "
— Voltaire (Candide, or Optimism)

"Men will always be mad, and those who think they can cure them are the maddest of all."
— Voltaire

"Man is free at the instant he wants to be."
— Voltaire

"Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills."
— Voltaire

"Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road."
— Voltaire

"It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books."
— Voltaire

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
— Voltaire

"'But for what purpose was the earth formed?' asked Candide. 'To drive us mad,' replied Martin. "
— Voltaire (Candide)

"If God created us in his own image,
we have more than reciprocated. "
— Voltaire

""You're a bitter man," said Candide.
"That's because I've lived," said Martin."
— Voltaire (Candide)

"Man is born free, but is everywhere seen bound by chains"
— Voltaire

"Liberty of thought is the life of the soul.""
— Voltaire

"Men are equal; it is not birth but virtue that makes the difference."
— Voltaire

"Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it."
— Voltaire

"I don’t know where I am going, but I am on my way."
— Voltaire

"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."
— Voltaire

""It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.""
— Voltaire

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

"L'homme est libre au moment qu'il veut l'être."
— Voltaire

"I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil."
— Voltaire

"Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too."
— Voltaire