볼테르
파라다이스는 부드러운 마음을 위해 만들어졌다; 지옥은 사랑이 없는 마음을 위해 만들어졌다.
우리가 알지 못하는 것을 원할수는 없는 일이다.
성서를 읽은 사람에게 영혼을 의탁하는 사람이 많지만, 성서를 진실로 공 들여 세밀하게 읽은 사람은 그들 가운데 50명이나 될까?
Your Majesty may think me an impatient sick man, and that the Turks are even sicker.
Your destiny is that of a man, and your vows those of a god.
You see many stars at night in the sky but find them not when the sun rises; can you say that there are no stars in the heaven of day? So, O man! because you behold not God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.
Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.
When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.
What then do you call your soul? What idea have you of it? You cannot of yourselves, without revelation, admit the existence within you of anything but a power unknown to you of feeling and thinking.
What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly – that is the first law of nature.
What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.
Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels.
We must distinguish between speaking to deceive and being silent to be reserved.
We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard.
We cannot always oblige; but we can always speak obligingly.
We are rarely proud when we are alone.
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies – it is the first law of nature.
Very often, say what you will, a knave is only a fool.
Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors.
Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.
Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.
To them it seemed that the gifts of an enemy were to be dreaded.
To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
To hold a pen is to be at war.
To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd.
To be at peace in crime! ah, who can thus flatter himself.
Though one sits in meditation in a particular place, the Self in him can exercise its influence far away. Though still, it moves everywhere… The Self cannot be known by anyone who desists not from unrighteous ways, controls not his senses, stills not his
Thou sleepest, Brutus, and yet Rome is in chains.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
This self-love is the instrument of our preservation; it resembles the provision for the perpetuity of mankind: it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives us pleasure, and we must conceal it.
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.
There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.
The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.
The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence.
The superfluous, a very necessary thing.
The sovereign is called a tyrant who knows no laws but his caprice.
The secret of being tiresome is in telling everything.
The secret of being a bore… is to tell everything.
The safest course is to do nothing against one’s conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.
The public is a ferocious beast; one must either chain it or flee from it.
The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.
The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year.
The multitude of books is making us ignorant.
The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs.
The little may contrast with the great, in painting, but cannot be said to be contrary to it. Oppositions of colors contrast; but there are also colors contrary to each other, that is, which produce an ill effect because they shock the eye when brought ver
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.
The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great.
The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.
The flowery style is not unsuitable to public speeches or addresses, which amount only to compliment. The lighter beauties are in their place when there is nothing more solid to say; but the flowery style ought to be banished from a pleading, a sermon, or
The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days.
The ear is the avenue to the heart.
The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
The best is the enemy of the good.
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.
The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third.
The ancients recommended us to sacrifice to the Graces, but Milton sacrificed to the Devil.
The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in.
‘That is indisputable,’ was the answer, ‘but in this country it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.’
Tears are the silent language of grief.
Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare.
Society therefore is an ancient as the world.
Slavery is also as ancient as war, and was as human nature.
Satire lies about literary men while they live and eulogy lies about them when they die.
Prejudice, friend, govern the vulgar crowd.
Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time.
Our country is that spot to which our heart is bound.
Originality is nothing by judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.
Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.
One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.
One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.
Now, now my good man, this is no time for making enemies.
Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.
Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.
No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.
Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry always gets the best of the argument.
Neither holy, nor Roman, nor Empire.
Nature has always had more force than education.
My life is a struggle.
Men use thought only to justify their wrong doings, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.
Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.
Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.
Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.
Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.
Love has features which pierce all hearts, he wears a bandage which conceals the faults of those beloved. He has wings, he comes quickly and flies away the same.
Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.
Let us read and let us dance – two amusements that will never do any harm to the world.
Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.
Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.
It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape.
It is today, my dear, that I take a perilous leap.
It is the flash which appears, the thunderbolt will follow.
It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.
It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.
It is new fancy rathert than taste which produces so many new fashions.
It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.
It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge.
Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?
Injustice in the end produces independence.
Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
In this country [England] it is thought well to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.
In the country of Westphalia, in the castle of the most noble Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh, lived a youth whom nature had endowed with a most sweet disposition.
In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.
In every author let us distinguish the man from his works.
Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
If we do not find anything pleasant, at least we shall find something new.
If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him.
If the bookseller happens to desire a privilege for his merchandise, whether he is selling Rabelais or the Fathers of the Church, the magistrate grants the privilege without answering for the contents of the book.
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.
If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.
Ice-cream is exquisite – what a pity it isn’t illegal.
I Thy God am the Light and the Mind which were before substance was divided from Spirit and darkness from Light.
I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it.
I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil.
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: “O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.” And God granted it.
I have always made one prayer to God, a very short one. Here it is: “My God, make our enemies very ridiculous!” God has granted it to me.
I hate women because they always know where things are.
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.
I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.
I advice you to go on living solely to enrage those who are paying you annuities.
How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child’s board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted.
How inexpressible is the meanness of being a hypocrite! how horrible is it to be a mischievous and malignant hypocrite.
History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.
He who thinks himself wise, O heavens! is a great fool.
He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad.
He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it.
He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
He shines in the second rank, who is eclipsed in the first.
He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.
He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.
God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.
God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent.
Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce.
For take thy balance if thou be so wise And weigh the wind that under heaven doth blow; Or weigh the light that in the east doth rise; Or weigh the thought that from man’s mind doth flow.
Fear follows crime and is its punishment.
Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.
Everything’s fine today, that is our illusion.
Everything is for the best in this best of possible worlds.
Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest.
Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
Do well and you will have no need for ancestors.
Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.
Common sense is not so common.
Clever tyrants are never punished.
Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.
By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.
But nothing is more estimable than a physician who, having studied nature from his youth, knows the properties of the human body, the diseases which assail it, the remedies which will benefit it, exercises his art with caution, and pays equal attention to
Business is the salt of life.
Better is the enemy of good.
Behind every successful man stands a surprised mother-in-law.
As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.
Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
Anything too stupid to be said is sung.
Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.
Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.
An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.
All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.
All styles are good except the tiresome kind.
All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God.
A witty saying proves nothing.
A company of tyrants is inaccessible to all seductions.
참다운 욕구 없이 참다운 민족은 없다.
신은 너로 하여금 신을 사랑하도록 만든 것이지, 신을 이해하도록 만든 것은 아니다.
상식은 그렇게 흔한 것이 아니다.
사고는 수염과 같은것이다. 성장하기 전에는 나오지 않는다.
로마에서 신문의 검열이 있었다고 하면 우리는 오늘날 호라티우스나 키케로의 철학적 산문을 갖지 못했을 것이다.
덕행은 스스로를 정당화하면 가치가 떨어진다.
관용이란 무엇인가. 그것은 인간애의 소유이다. 우리는 모두 약함과 과오로 만들어져 있다. 우리는 어리석음을 서로 용서한다. 이것이 자연의 제일 법칙이다.
자신이 현명하다고 생각하고 있는 인간은 정녕 구제할 수 없는 바보이다.
자기 자신을 현명하다고 생각하는 인간은 그야말로 바보이다.
인생은 활동함으로써 값어치가 있으며, 빈곤한 휴식은 죽음을 의미한다.
이익으로 분열되고 범죄로 뭉쳐진다.
아무리 유익한 책이라도 그 절반은 독자 자신에 의해서 만들어지는 것이다,