1,052 Quotes by Voltaire

The punishment of criminals should be of use; when a man is hanged he is good for nothing.

I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges, astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis, etc..

Ideas are like beards; men do not have them until they grow up.

theology is to religion what poisons are to food

What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature.

It would be easier to subjugate the entire universe through force than the minds of a single village.

The necessity of saying something, the embarrassment produced by the consciousness of having nothing to say, and the desire to exhibit ability, are three things sufficient to render even a great man ridiculous.

Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die.

If you have two religions in your land, the two will cut each other’s throats; but if you have thirty religions, they will dwell in peace