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Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent.
Voltaire
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Voltaire
Age: 84 †
Born: 1694
Born: February 20
Died: 1778
Died: May 30
Author
Autobiographer
Correspondent
Diarist
Encyclopédistes
Essayist
Historian
Philosopher
Playwright
Poet
Poet Lawyer
Political Scientist
Paris
France
François-Marie Arouet
Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire
Francois Marie Arouet
Dictator of Letters
Froth
Dregs
Excellent
Bottom
Middle
More quotes by Voltaire
I believe that there never was a creator of a philosophical system who did not confess at the end of his life that he had wasted his time. It must be admitted that the inventors of the mechanical arts have been much more useful to men that the inventors of syllogisms. He who imagined a ship towers considerably above him who imagined innate ideas.
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To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
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The spirit of property doubles a man's strength.
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In this country [England] it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, to encourage the others. The reference is to Admiral John Byng, who was executed in 1757 for failing to prevent the French from taking Minorca.
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The institution of religion exists only to keep mankind in order, and to make men merit the goodness of God by their virtue. Everything in a religion which does not tend towards this goal must be considered foreign or dangerous.
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What! Have you no monks to teach, to dispute, to govern, to intrigue and to burn people who do not agree with them?
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For can anything be sillier than to insist on carrying a burden one would continually much rather throw to the ground?
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A multitude of laws in a country is like a great number of physicians, a sign of weakness and malady.
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The public is a ferocious beast one must either chain it or flee from it.
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Fools admire everything in an author of reputation.
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Inspiration: A peculiar effect of divine flatulence emitted by the Holy Spirit which hisses into the ears of a few chosen of God.
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Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.
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You are very harsh.' 'I have seen the world.
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What is not in nature can never be true.
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A witty saying proves nothing, but saying something pointless gets people's attention.
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If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him let us worship God through Jesus if we must - if ignorance has so far prevailed that this name can still be spoken in all seriousness without being taken as a synonym for rapine and carnage. Every sensible man, every honourable man, must hold the Christian sect in horror.
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Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value - zero.
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Clever tyrants are never punished.
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Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?
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It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
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