Voltaire

“It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.”

“All styles are good except the tiresome kind.”

“History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.”

“Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.”

“Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.”

“Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.”

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

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

“Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.”

“To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.”

“Tears are the silent language of grief.”

“Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time.”

“Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare.”

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

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

“History should be written as philosophy.”

“I hate women because they always know where things are.”

“It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge.”

“What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.”

“The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in.”

“The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third.”

“The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”

“The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.”

“God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.”