Voltaire

"I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom."

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

"In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another."

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

"All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women."

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

"Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game."

"Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe."

"God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best."

"He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise."

"He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad."

"Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?"

"It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one."

"It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape."

"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."

"Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him."

"Nature has always had more force than education."

"Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men."

"One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose."

"Religion was instituted to make us happy in this life and in the other. What must we do to be happy in the life to come? Be just."

"Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth."

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

"The best is the enemy of the good."

"The ear is the avenue to the heart."

"The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death."

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

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

"Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable."

"To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd."

"To hold a pen is to be at war."

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

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

"We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature."

"We are rarely proud when we are alone."

"What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous."

"What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature."

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

"What then do you call your soul? What idea have you of it? You cannot of yourselves, without revelation, admit the existence within you of anything but a power unknown to you of feeling and thinking."

"When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion."

"When men do not have healthy notions of the Divinity, false ideas supplant them, just as in bad times one uses counterfeit money when there is no good money."

"Wherever there is a settled society, religion is necessary; the laws cover manifest crimes, and religion covers secret crimes."