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Woe to the makers of literal translations, who by rendering every word weaken the meaning! It is indeed by so doing that we can say the letter kills and the spirit gives life.
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
Every
Makers
Weaken
Life
Letters
Discernment
Indeed
Rendering
Meaning
Translations
Gives
Woe
Word
Literal
Spirit
Kills
Giving
Letter
More quotes by Voltaire
Common sense is both more rare and more desirable in leaders than mere intelligence.
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History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up.
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History is only the pattern of silken slippers descending the stairs to the thunder of hobnailed boots climbing upward from below.
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The worthy administrators of justice are like a cat set to take care of a cheese, lest it should be gnawed by the mice. One bite of the cat does more damage to the cheese than twenty mice can do.
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Men fed upon carnage, and drinking strong drinks, have all an impoisoned and acrid blood which drives them mad in a hundred different ways.
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Injustice in the end produces independence.
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Let all the laws be clear, uniform and precise for interpreting laws is almost always to corrupt them.
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Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.
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The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great.
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We are all full of weakness and errors let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
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The punishment of criminals should be of use when a man is hanged he is good for nothing.
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The interest I have to believe a thing is no proof that such a thing exists.
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As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.
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The rude beginnings of every art acquire a greater celebrity than the art in perfection he who first played the fiddle was looked upon as a demigod.
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my soul is the mirror of the universe, and my body is its frame
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God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions.
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The way to become boring is to say everything.
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God created women only to tame men.
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Liberty of thought is the life of the soul.
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Villains are undone by what is worst in them, heroes by what is best.
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