Voltaire
Enlightenment philosopher
Sayings by Voltaire
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.
The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.
It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
Common sense is not so common.
Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.
Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.
The best is the enemy of the good.
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever he wants to believe.
Let us cultivate our garden.
God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
Paradise is where I am.
Fear follows crime and is its punishment.
The first step, my son, which one takes in the world, is to make oneself necessary.
Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy extinguishes them.
Prejudice is the reason of fools.
All that we know is that there is nothing that we know.
The multitude of books is making us ignorant.