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All the ancient histories, as one of our wits say, are just fables that have been agreed upon
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
Wits
Fables
Agreed
Wit
Historical
Ancient
Upon
History
Histories
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Is politics nothing other than the art of deliberately lying?
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What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.
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Hope should no more be a virtue than fear we fear and we hope, according to what is promised or threatened us.
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I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil.
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What can I hope when all is right?
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We are obliged to place ourselves on the level of our age before we can rise above it.
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Minds differ still more than faces.
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You see, Mademoiselle, I have experience, I know the world. To pass the time, why don't you ask every passenger to tell you his life's story? And if there is a single one among them who has never cursed his life, who has not often told himself that he was the unhappiest of men, then you may throw me overboard, headfirst!
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Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives and few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time.
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The man who, in a fit of melancholy, kills himself today, would have wished to live had he waited a week.
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Los Padres have everything and the people have nothing 'tis the masterpiece of reason and justice. For my part, I know nothing so divine as Los Padres who make war on Kings of Spain and Portugal and in Europe act as their confessors who here kill Spaniards and at Madrid send them to Heaven.
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What a pessimist you are! exclaimed Candide. That is because I know what life is, said Martin.
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