And to every man has been assigned a good and an evil angel; one assisting him and the other annoying him, from his cradle to his coffin.

When he who hears does not know what he who speaks means, and when he who speaks does not know what he himself means, that is philosophy

Ice-cream is exquisite. What a pity it isn’t illegal.

You will notice that in all disputes between Christians since the birth of the Church, Rome has always favored the doctrine which most completely subjugated the human mind and annihilated reason

All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.

Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.

The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.

It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.

History is no more than the portrayal of crimes and misfortunes

He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked

He who dies before many witnesses always does so with courage.

Truth is a fruit which should not be plucked until it is ripe.

Society therefore is an ancient as the world.

It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.

The Dutch fetishes who converted me tell me every Sunday that the blacks and whites are all children of one father, whom they call Adam. As for me, I do not understand anything of genealogies;...

Answer me, you who believe that animals are only machines. Has nature arranged for this animal to have all the machinery of feelings only in order for it not to have any at all?

We are at the end of all our troubles, and at the beginning of happiness

say, “Believe as I do, or I shall assassinate you

We may not always oblige, but we may always speak obligingly

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

Let us read and let us dance – two amusements that will never do any harm to the world.

In my life, I have prayed but one prayer: oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it.

In this country it is considered wise to kill an admiral from time to time in order to encourage the others

A long dispute means both parties are wrong

It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape.

Ice-cream is exquisite – what a pity it isn’t illegal.

Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.

The secret of being a bore… is to tell everything.

If God did not exist, He would have to be invented. But all nature cries aloud that he does exist: that there is a supreme intelligence, an immense power, an admirable order, and everything teaches...

There are some men who are counted great because they represent the actuality of their own age, and mirror it as it is. Such an one was Voltaire, of whom it was epigrammatically said: ‘he...

Perhaps there is nothing greater on earth than the sacrifice of youth and beauty, often of high birth, made by the gentle sex in order to work in hospitals for the relief of human misery,...

Do you believe,” said Candide, “that men have always slaughtered each other as they do today, that they’ve always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates and thieves, weak, fickle, cowardly, envious, greedy, drunken, miserly, ambitious, bloodthirsty,...

Whatever you do, crush the infamy

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

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

The multitude of books is making us ignorant.

Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.

Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest.

The superfluous is very necessary

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

The punishment of criminals should serve a purpose. When a man is hanged he is useless.

It is the flash which appears, the thunderbolt will follow.

There are truths that are not for all men, nor for all occasions

So it is the human condition that to wish for the greatness of one’s fatherland is to wish evil to one’s neighbors. The citizen of the universe would be the man who wishes his country...

Quand celui à qui l’on parle ne comprend pas et celui qui parle ne se comprend pas, c’est de la métaphysiqueWhen he to whom a person speaks does not understand, and he who speaks does...

Un bon mot ne prouve rien.

May God defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies.

How I like the boldness of the English, how I like the people who say what they think!

There are some that only employ words for the purpose of disguising their thoughts

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets