Voltaire

Better is the enemy of good.

The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year.

Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.

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

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child’s board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted.

Whatever advice you give, be short.

People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.

The men who have furnished me with my greatest inspiration have not been men of wealth, but men of deeds.

The only reward of virtue is virtue the only way to have a friend is to be one.

I like not only to be loved, but also to be told that I am loved. I am not sure that you are of the same kind. But the realm of silence is large enough beyond the grave. This is the world of light and speech, and I shall take leave to tell you that you are very dear.

Every mind must make its choice between truth and repose. It cannot have both.

Events can neither be regarded as a series of adventures nor strung on the thread of a preconceived moral. They must obey their own laws.

Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows of no tricks. The best you can write will be the best you are.

There is no distinctly American criminal class – except Congress.

The line of beauty is the line of perfect economy.

The aim of spiritual life is to awaken a joyful freedom, a benevolent and compassionate heart in spite of everything.

Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.

I hold every man a debtor to his profession.

Each of us has the right and the responsibility to asses the road which lie ahead and those over which we have traveled, and if the feature road looms ominous or unpromising, and the road back uninviting-inviting, then we need to gather our resolve and carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction. If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment, we must be ready to change that one as well.

Remember where you came from.