Voltaire

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

Common sense is not so common.

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

The best is the enemy of the good.

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

It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.

Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.

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

To hold a pen is to be at war.

The multitude of books is making us ignorant.

Work spares us from three great evils: boredom, vice, and need.

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

History is nothing but a pack of tricks that we play upon the dead.

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

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.

Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.

The ear is the avenue to the heart.

The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe what he wants to believe.