Voltaire

He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.

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

Very often, say what you will, a knave is only a fool.

To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.

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

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

There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.

Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.

He that outlives a wife whom he has long loved, sees himself disjoined from the only mind that has the same hopes, and fears, and interest; from the only companion with whom he has shared much good and evil; and with whom he could set his mind at liberty, to retrace the past or anticipate the future. The continuity of being is lacerated; the settled course of sentiment and action is stopped; and life stands suspended and motionless.

Every great man, every successful man, no matter what the field of endeavor, has known the magic that lies in these words: every adversity has the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.

New arts destroy the old.

Whenever, therefore, people are deceived and form opinions wide of the truth, it is clear that the error has slid into their minds through the medium of certain resemblances to that truth.

Might, could, would – they are contemptible auxiliaries.

We have more than we use.

Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. The conviction of the rich that the poor are happier is no more foolish than the conviction of the poor that the rich are.

Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.

Treating your adversary with respect is striking soft in battle.

You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude.

Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.

What men call social virtues, good fellowship, is commonly but the virtue of pigs in a litter, which lie close together to keep each other warm.