Voltaire

Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.

The public is a ferocious beast; one must either chain it or flee from it.

If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him.

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

Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.

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

While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this earth?

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.

Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.

True irreverence is disrespect for another man’s god.

Give me insight into today and you may have the antique and future worlds.

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.

Life is not an exact science, it is an art.

All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was.

Five minutes of today are worth as much to me, as five minutes in the next millennium. Let us be poised, and wise, and our own, today.

I’ve learned that from my husband, that sort of, you know, ability to not get too high or too low with changes and bumps in the road.

I was brought up to hate and fear liberty. I came to love it. That is the secret of my whole career.

Men are born to succeed, not to fail.

Whatever advice you give, be short.

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change thing I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

If a diplomat says yes, he means perhaps. If he says perhaps he means no. And if he says no, he’s the hell of a diplomat.