Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.
~ Voltaire
Fear succeeds crime - it is its punishment.
Doubt is not a pleasant state but certainty is a ridiculous one.
England has forty-two religions and only two sauces.
The superfluous is very necessary.
The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.
Faith is believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.
What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.
It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.
Shun idleness. It is a rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals.
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.
History is just the portrayal of crimes and misfortunes.
Fear could never make a virtue.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition but certainty is.
Better is the enemy of the good.
Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?
Men use thought only to justify their wrongdoings and speech only to conceal their thoughts.
Can you really believe that a drop of urine is an infinity of monads, and that each of these has ideas, however obscure, of the universe as a whole?
To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.
To hold a pen is to be at war.
Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.
The ear is the avenue to the heart.
Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.
Nature has always had more force than education.
The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.
Common sense is not so common.
The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in.
Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.
The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason.
When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.
Wherever there is a settled society, religion is necessary; the laws cover manifest crimes, and religion covers secret crimes.
Such is the feebleness of humanity, such is its perversity, that doubtless it is better for it to be subject to all possible superstitions, as long as they are not murderous, than to live without religion.
Religion was instituted to make us happy in this life and in the other. What must we do to be happy in the life to come? Be just.
Perfection is attained by slow degrees it requires the hand of time.
All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.
The best is the enemy of the good.
