Top 500 Voltaire Quotes (2024 Update)
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301. “If you want good laws, burn those you have and make new ones.”

— Voltaire

302. “What is called happiness is an abstract idea, composed of various ideas of pleasure; for he who has but a moment of pleasure is not a happy man, in like manner that a moment of grief constitutes not a miserable one.”

— Voltaire

303. “Injustice in the end produces independence.”

— Voltaire

304. “The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason.”

— Voltaire

305. “The sentiment of justice is so natural, and so universally acquired by all mankind, that it seems to be independent of all law, all party, all religion.”

— Voltaire

306. “God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions.”

— Voltaire

307. “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

308. “Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest.”

— Voltaire

309. “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.”

— Voltaire

310. “A yawn may not be polite, but at least it is an honest opinion.”

— Voltaire

311. “Change everything except your loves.”

— Voltaire

312. “Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors.”

— Voltaire

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

— Voltaire

314. “Fools admire everything in an author of reputation.”

— Voltaire

315. “Such then is the human condition, that to wish greatness for one’s country is to wish harm to one’s neighbors.”

— Voltaire

316. “Only your friends steal your books.”

— Voltaire

317. “The monster, fanaticism, still exists, and whoever seeks after truth will run the risk of being persecuted.”

— Voltaire

318. “The multitude of books is making us ignorant.”

— Voltaire

319. “The opinion of all lawyers, the unanimous cry of the nation, and the good of the state, are in themselves a law.”

— Voltaire

320. “All styles are good except the tiresome kind.”

— Voltaire

321. “Which is more dangerous: fanaticism or atheism? Fanaticism is certainly a thousand times more deadly; for atheism inspires no bloody passion whereas fanaticism does; atheism is opposed to crime and fanaticism causes crimes to be committed.”

— Voltaire

322. “Fame is a heavy burden.”

— Voltaire

323. “It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.”

— Voltaire

324. “The fate of a nation has often depended upon the good or bad digestion of a prime minister.”

— Voltaire

325. “There is only one morality, as there is only one geometry.”

— Voltaire

326. “Let us help one another to bear our burdens.”

— Voltaire

327. “Fanaticism, to which men are so much inclined, has always served not only to render them more brutalized but more wicked.”

— Voltaire

328. “I am a little deaf, a little blind, a little important and on top of this are two or three abominable infirmities, but nothing destroys my hope.”

— Voltaire

329. “As you know, the Inquisition is an admirable and wholly Christian invention to make the pope and the monks more powerful and turn a whole kingdom into hypocrites.”

— Voltaire

330. “It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books.”

— Voltaire

331. “The Pride of every Jew finds cause to believe that the cause of their down fall is not their detestable politics, or ignorance of social graces, but the raft of God. They believe it took a miracle to undo them.”

— Voltaire

332. “The malevolence of men revealed itself to his mind in all of its ugliness.”

— Voltaire

333. “Opinion is called the queen of the world; it is so, for when reason opposes it, it is condemned to death. It must rise twenty times from its ashes to gradually drive away the usurper.”

— Voltaire

334. “Let us leave every man at liberty to seek into him and to lose himself in his ideas.”

— Voltaire

335. “Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel.”

— Voltaire

336. “Not all citizens can be equally strong; but they can all be equally free.”

— Voltaire

337. “Heaven made virtue; man, the appearance.”

— Voltaire

338. “We offer up prayers to god only because we have made him after our own image. We treat him like a pasha, or a sultan, who is capable of being exasperated and appeased.”

— Voltaire

339. “We cannot wish for that we know not.”

— Voltaire

340. “Your destiny is that of a man, your vows those of a god.”

— Voltaire

341. “I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow.”

— Voltaire

342. “I read these words which are the sum of all moral philosophy, and which cut short all the disputes of the casuists: When in doubt if an action is good or bad, refrain.”

— Voltaire

343. “It requires ages to destroy a popular opinion.”

— Voltaire

344. “Men, generally going with the stream, seldom judge for themselves, and purity of taste is almost as rare as talent.”

— Voltaire

345. “Happiness is not the portion of man.”

— Voltaire

346. “I disapprove of what you say but i will defend to the death your right to say it.”

— Voltaire

347. “Of all religions, Christianity is without a doubt the one that should inspire tolerance most.”

— Voltaire

348. “What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason.”

— Voltaire

349. “The man visited by ecstasies and visions, who takes dreams for realities is an enthusiast; the man who supports his madness with murder is a fanatic.”

— Voltaire

350. “Twenty-volume folios will never make a revolution. It’s the little pocket pamphlets that are to be feared.”

— Voltaire