Voltaire

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.

When men do not have healthy notions of the Divinity, false ideas supplant them, just as in bad times one uses counterfeit money when there is no good money.

He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad.

He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.

The superfluous, a very necessary thing.

It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.

We must cultivate our own garden. When man was put in the garden of Eden he was put there so that he should work, which proves that man was not born to rest.

Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.

Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce.

To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd.

I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.

What can you say to a man who tells you he prefers obeying God rather than men, and that as a result he's certain he'll go to heaven if he cuts your throat?

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.

All men are born with a nose and five fingers, but no one is born with a knowledge of God.

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.

God gave us the gift of life it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.

Chance is a word void of sense nothing can exist without a cause.