Misattributed Voltaire Quotes

Voltaire once wrote, "Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers." Sir Francis Bacon added, "A prudent question is one-half of wisdom." Indira Gandhi concluded that "the power to question is the basis of all human progress." Great questions are clearly the quickest path to great answers. ~ Gary Keller

Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. ~ Marthe Troly-Curtin

Voltaire made up his mind to destroy the superstition of his time. He fought with every weapon that genius could devise or use. He was the greatest of all caricaturists, and he used this wonderful gift without mercy. ~ Robert Green Ingersoll

The more he became truly wise, the more he distrusted everything he knew. ~ Voltaire

The famous physician Dumoulin said when dying, 'I leave two great physicians behind me, simple food and pure water.' ~ Voltaire

It is impossible to translate poetry. Can you translate music? ~ Voltaire

One should always cite what one does not understand at all in the language one understands the least. ~ Voltaire

The Seven Social Sins are:

Wealth without work.
Pleasure without conscience.
Knowledge without character.
Commerce without morality.
Science without humanity.
Worship without sacrifice.
Politics without principle.


From a sermon given by Frederick Lewis Donaldson in Westminster Abbey, London, on March 20, 1925. ~ Frederick Lewis Donaldson

Pangloss most cruelly deceived me when he said that everything in the world is for the best. ~ Voltaire

An almost infallible means of saving yourself from the desire of self-destruction is always to have something to do.
Creech, the commentator on Lucretius, marked upon his manuscripts: "N. B. Must hang myself when I have finished." He kept his word with himself that he might have the pleasure of ending like his author. If he had undertaken a commentary upon Ovid he would have lived longer. ~ Voltaire

Independence in the end is the fruit of injustice. ~ Voltaire

A hundred times I was upon the point of killing myself; but still I loved life. This ridiculous foible is perhaps one of our most fatal characteristics; for is there anything more absurd than to wish to carry continually a burden which one can always throw down? to detest existence and yet to cling to one's existence? in brief, to caress the serpent which devours us, till he has eaten our very heart? ~ Voltaire

The malevolence of men revealed itself to his mind in all of its ugliness ~ Voltaire

Things will go wrong. You and your partners will make mistakes. People will get hurt. To paraphrase Voltaire, we are all born of frailty and error. What happens afterward depends on how capable we are to forgive one another for our errors, handle the consequences with grace and dignity, and learn from our mistakes. ~ Franklin Veaux

The Apology (of Socrates) is Plato's version of the speech given by Socrates as he defends himself against the charges of being a man "who corrupted the young, did not believe in the gods, and created new deities". "Apology" here has its earlier meaning (now usually expressed by the word "apologia") of speaking in defense of a cause or of one's beliefs or actions (from the Greek απολογία). ~ Voltaire

There is a pleasure in not being pleased. ~ Voltaire

It is not the answers you give, but the questions you ask. ~ Voltaire

Voltaire responded that, on the contrary, vivisection showed that the dog has the same organes de sentiment that a human has. "Answer me, you who believes that animals are only machines," he wrote. "Has nature arranged for this animal to have all the machinery of feelings only in order for it not to have any at all? ~ Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

Those who think are excessively few; and those few do not set themselves to disturb the world. ~ Voltaire

To caress the serpent that devours us, until it has eaten away our heart. ~ Voltaire

An infallible method of making fanatics is to persuade before you instruct. ~ Voltaire

Antiquity is full of the praises of another antiquity still more remote. ~ Voltaire

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Having lived with kings, I have become a king in my own home. ~ Voltaire

Joy is my character,
tis the fault of Voltaire.
Misery is my trousseau,
tis the fault of Rousseau.
Gavroche ~ Victor Hugo

Doctors put drugs of which they know little into bodies of which they know less for diseases of which they know nothing at all. ~ Voltaire

The scholar explained, very neatly, that a play might well have something interesting about it, but no literary value. He demonstrated, without wasting words, that a playwright had to do more than throw in some of the complications found in all novels, and perpetually attractive to theater audiences. Playwrights had to be novel without being bizarre, frequently sublime but never unnatural; they had to understand the human heart had let it speak for itself; they had to be great poets but never let any of their characters sound like poets; they had to perfectly understand language and use it purely, with continuous harmony, never disjointing it with forced rhyme. ~ Voltaire

It is not more surprising to be born twice than once; everything in nature is resurrection. ~ Voltaire

I don't know where I am going, but I am on my way. ~ Voltaire

To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana. ~ Gautama Buddha

It is given to us to calculate, to weigh, to measure, to observe, this is natural philosophy; almost all the rest is chimera. ~ Voltaire

Men argue. Nature acts. ~ Voltaire

England has forty-two religions and only two sauces. ~ Voltaire

Atheism is the vice of a few intelligent people. ~ Voltaire

Adultery is an evil only inasmuch as it is a theft; but we do not steal that which is given to us. ~ Voltaire

There can be no happiness without good health ~ Voltaire

My brother maintains," I answered, "that those who wish to look carefully at the earth should stay at the necessary distance," and Voltaire very much admired the answer. ~ Italo Calvino

Fame is a heavy burden. ~ Voltaire

When EVIL men make bad laws, righteous men disobey them."
Pastor Butch Paugh ~ Tarrin P. Lupo

The ancients recommended us to sacrifice to the Graces, but Milton sacrificed to the Devil. ~ Voltaire

Great wits are to madness near allied
And thin partitions do their bounds divide. ~ John Dryden

Exaggeration, the inseparable companion of greatness. ~ Voltaire

Aidan: "From the moment I laid eyes on her she was trouble to my concentration, my libido, and my mental health. After six weeks of pursuit, I'd trapped her between my upraised arms against a book case, somewhere betwixt Shakespeare and Voltaire. "I want the witchcraft in your lips," I'd whispered. Instead of arguing, she grabbed me by the ears. She'd been soft lips, liberal tongue and nipping teeth. I'd contributed a willing body and a vulgar groan. She'd drawn away, licked her lips and ducked underneath my arms. When she was about three yards from me, she's tilted her head up like a siren on the bow of a ship and pursed a devil-may-care smile at me before she bowed. She'd challenged me to pursue her, and I'd intended to, but when I pushed off, the bookcase fell backwards. I tumbled into a heap of literary tombs. I could still hear her laughing when the library's elevator door chimed closed. ~ Elizabeth Marx

He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked. ~ Voltaire