Top 500 Voltaire Quotes (2026 Update)
Page 10 of 10

451. “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.”

— Voltaire

452. “Go get yourself crucified and then rise on the third day.”

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

454. “Men fed upon carnage, and drinking strong drinks, have all an impoisoned and acrid blood which drives them mad in a hundred different ways.”

— Voltaire

Featured in: Strong Quotes

455. “It is the characteristic of the most stringent censorships that they give credibility to the opinions they attack.”

— Voltaire

456. “To announce truths is an infallible receipt for being persecuted.”

— Voltaire

457. “I loved him as we always love for the first time; with idolatry and wild passion.”

— Voltaire

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

458. “True greatness consists in the use of a powerful understanding to enlighten oneself and others.”

— Voltaire

459. “One day everything will be well, that is our hope. Everything’s fine today, that is our illusion.”

— Voltaire

460. “There are two things for which animals are to be envied: they know nothing of future evils, or of what people say about them.”

— Voltaire

461. “Even in those cities which seem to enjoy the blessings of peace, and where the arts florish, the inhabitants are devoured by envy, cares and anxieties, which are greater plagues than any expirienced in a town when it is under siege.”

— Voltaire

462. “History is but the record of crimes and misfortunes. L’histoire n’est que le tableau des crimes et des malheurs.”

— Voltaire

463. “Virtue debases itself in justifying itself.”

— Voltaire

464. “The interest I have to believe a thing is no proof that such a thing exists.”

— Voltaire

465. “Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce.”

— Voltaire

466. “Needless to say since Christ’s expiation not one single Christian has been known to sin, or die.”

— Voltaire

467. “I am the best-natured creature in the world, and yet I have already killed three, and of these three two were priests.”

— Voltaire

468. “All is but illusion and disaster.”

— Voltaire

469. “The abuse of grace is affectation, as the abuse of the sublime is absurdity; all perfection is nearly a fault.”

— Voltaire

470. “The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice.”

— Voltaire

471. “The Pope is an idol whose hands are tied and whose feet are kissed.”

— Voltaire

472. “Where there is friendship, there is our natural soil.”

— Voltaire

Featured in: Real Quotes

473. “The policy of man consists, at first, in endeavoring to arrive at a state equal to that of animals, whom nature has furnished with food, clothing, and shelter.”

— Voltaire

474. “To succeed in chaining the multitude, you must seem to wear the same fetters.”

— Voltaire

475. “I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil.”

— Voltaire

Featured in: Real Quotes, Book Quotes

476. “It has taken seas of blood to drown the idol of despotism, but the English do not think they bought their laws too dearly.”

— Voltaire

477. “Translations increase the faults of a work and spoil its beauties.”

— Voltaire

478. “A fool is a person who guesses and gets it wrong, a clever man is one who guesses, regardless of time period, and gets it right.”

— Voltaire

479. “Nothing is so common as to imitate one’s enemies, and to use their weapons.”

— Voltaire

480. “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.”

— Voltaire

481. “It is fancy rather than taste which produces so many new fashions.”

— Voltaire

482. “Let us confess it: evil strides the world.”

— Voltaire

483. “The ancients recommended us to sacrifice to the Graces, but Milton sacrificed to the Devil.”

— Voltaire

484. “It is not known precisely where angels dwell whether in the air, the void, or the planets. It has not been God’s pleasure that we should be informed of their abode.”

— Voltaire

485. “Luxury has been railed at for two thousand years, in verse and in prose, and it has always been loved.”

— Voltaire

486. “It was decided by the university of Coimbre that the sight of several persons being slowly burned in great ceremony is an infallible secret for preventing earthquakes.”

— Voltaire

487. “For seventeen hundred years the Christian sect has done nothing but harm.”

— Voltaire

488. “History should be written as philosophy.”

— Voltaire

489. “All pleasantry should be short; and it might even be as well were the serious short also.”

— Voltaire

490. “The rude beginnings of every art acquire a greater celebrity than the art in perfection; he who first played the fiddle was looked upon as a demigod.”

— Voltaire

491. “He who cannot shine by thought, seeks to bring himself into notice by a witticism.”

— Voltaire

492. “The more estimable the offender, the greater the torment.”

— Voltaire

493. “It is not enough to be exceptionally mad, licentious and fanatical in order to win a great reputation; it is still necessary to arrive on the scene at the right time.”

— Voltaire

494. “I never approved either the errors of his book, or the trivial truths he so vigorously laid down. I have, however, stoutly taken his side when absurd men have condemned him for these same truths.”

— Voltaire

Featured in: Book Quotes

495. “If there are atheists, who is to be blamed if not the mercenary tyrants of souls who, in revolting us against their swindles, compel some feeble spirits to deny the God whom these monsters dishonour?”

— Voltaire

496. “Men are in general so tricky, so envious, and so cruel that when we find one who is only weak, we are too happy.”

— Voltaire

497. “Why, since we are always complaining of our ills, are we constantly employed in redoubling them?”

— Voltaire

498. “I swear that, not being able to be yours, I will belong to no one.”

— Voltaire

499. “Whosoever does not know how to recognize the faults of great men is incapable of estimating their perfections.”

— Voltaire

500. “Feeble verses are those which sin not against rules, but against genius.”

— Voltaire