Quote

I read these words which are the sum of all moral philosophy, and which cut short all the disputes of the casuists: When in doubt if an action is good or bad, refrain.

Voltaire

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Words
Morality
Action
Short
Good
Cutting
Philosophy
Doubt
Moral
Religion
Refrain
Read
Disputes

More quotes by Voltaire

Image
It is not inequality which is the real misfortune, it is dependence.
Voltaire
Image
What can I hope when all is right?
Voltaire
Image
What! Have you no monks to teach, to dispute, to govern, to intrigue and to burn people who do not agree with them?
Voltaire
Image
History should be written as philosophy.
Voltaire
Image
If God has made us in his image, we have returned him the favor.
Voltaire
Image
The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in.
Voltaire
Image
Who are you, Nature? I live in you for fifty years I have been seeking you, and I have not found you yet.
Voltaire
Image
The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.
Voltaire
Image
There can be no happiness without good health
Voltaire
Image
Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die.
Voltaire
Image
Men will commit atrocities as long as they believe absurdities.
Voltaire
Image
I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms.
Voltaire
Image
Prejudice is opinion without judgement.
Voltaire
Image
Ideas are like beards men do not have them until they grow up.
Voltaire
Image
Slavery is also as ancient as war, and war as human nature.
Voltaire
Image
When truth is evident, it is impossible for parties and factions to rise. There never has been a dispute as to whether there is daylight at noon.
Voltaire
Image
Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day.
Voltaire
Image
Those who can be made to believe absurdities can be made to commit atrocities.
Voltaire
Image
The fate of a nation has often depended upon the good or bad digestion of a prime minister.
Voltaire
Image
The atheists are for the most part imprudent and misguided scholars who reason badly who, not being able to understand the Creation, the origin of evil, and other difficulties, have recourse to the hypothesis the eternity of things and of inevitability.
Voltaire