Poetry is the music of the soul, and, above all, of great and feeling souls.

Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need

It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books.

It is not known precisely where angels dwell — whether in the air, the void, or the planets. It has not been God’s pleasure that we should be informed of their abode.

There are no sects in geometry

To enjoy life, we must touch much of it lightly

Many are destined to reason wrongly; others, not to reason at all; and others, to persecute those who do reason.

Let us work without theorizing, tis the only way to make life endurable.

I loved him as we always love for the first time; with idolatry and wild passion.

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

I have been a hundred times on the point of killing myself, but still was fond of life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our worst instincts. What can be more absurd than choosing...

What can be more absurd than choosing to carry a burden that one really wants to throw to the ground? To detest, and yet to strive to preserve our existence? To caress the serpent that...

I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow.

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

There’s scarce a point whereon mankind agree – So well as in their boast of killing me; I boast of nothing, but when I’ve a mind – I think I can be even with mankind

Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent.

Of all religions, Christianity is without a doubt the one that should inspire tolerance most, although, up to now, the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men

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

I doubt not that in due time, when the arts are brought to perfection, some means will be found to give a sound head to a man who has none at all

A fool is a person who guesses and gets it wrong, a clever man is one who guesses, regardless of time period, and gets it right

All people are equal, it is not birth, it is virtue alone that makes the difference.

In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.

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

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

What is tolerance? It is a necessary consequence of humanity. We are all fallible, let us then pardon each other’s follies. This is the first principle of natural right.

had no need of a guide to learn ignorance

Optimism,” said Cacambo, “What is that?” “Alas!” replied Candide, “It is the obstinacy of maintaining that everything is best when it is worst.

Nos dirigimos a un mundo distinto decía Cándido-; sin duda debe ser allí donde todo está bien. Porque debemos reconocer que en el nuestro existen muchas cosas, en lo físico y en lo moral, que...

One of the chief misfortunes of honest people is that they are cowardly.

Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do

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

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...

The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third.

All the citizens of a state cannot be equally powerful, but they may be equally free

History is nothing but a pack of tricks that we play upon the dead

It is only through timidity that states are lost.

Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels.

Fear follows crime and is its punishment.

The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.

S’il n’existait pas Dieu il faudrait l’inventer.” (If God did not exist he would have to be invented.)

The art of medicine consists of keeping the patient in a good mood while nature does the healing.

I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more...

Prejudices are what fools use for reason.

If death did not exist today, it would be necessary to invent it

Your destiny is that of a man, and your vows those of a god.

Work keeps at bay three great evils: boredom, vice, and need

Doubt is not a pleasant mental state, but certainty is a ridiculous one.

It is fancy rather than taste which produces so many new fashions

When he to whom a person speaks does not understand, and he who speaks does not understand himself, that is metaphysics.

Once the people begin to reason, all is lost