Voltaire

History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.

Love truth, but pardon error.

All styles are good except the tiresome kind.

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

Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.

The ancients recommended us to sacrifice to the Graces, but Milton sacrificed to the Devil.

Go oft to the house of thy friend, for weeds choke the unused path.

The billiard table is better than the doctor.

The truth is, hardly any of us have ethical energy enough for more than one really inflexible point of honor.

Fortune makes a fool of those she favors too much.

We don’t want people to have expectations of us, but then we have expectations of everybody else.

We ascribe beauty to that which is simple; which has no superfluous parts; which exactly answers its end; which stands related to all things; which is the mean of many extremes.

The ear is the avenue to the heart.

Men love to wonder and that is the seed of our science.

Sir, you have but two topics, yourself and me. I am sick of both.

The usual fortune of complaint is to excite contempt more than pity.

England and America are two countries separated by the same language.

Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.

Always play like an underdog.

Ready are you? What know you of ready?

Pity is for living, envy is for dead.