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Danh ngôn của Voltaire (Sứ mệnh: 3)

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.
All men are born with a nose and five fingers, but no one is born with a knowledge of God.
Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.
We are rarely proud when we are alone.
What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.
Common sense is not so common.
Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.
When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.
It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
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.
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
Better is the enemy of good.
I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.
If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.
Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.
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.
To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd.
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.
In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.
To hold a pen is to be at war.
Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.
It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.
If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.
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 safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time.
God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?
It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.
The best is the enemy of the good.
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.
The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in.
He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.
One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.
All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.
Fear follows crime and is its punishment.
He who has not the spirit of this age, has all the misery of it.
He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad.
History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.
Injustice in the end produces independence.
It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape.
Nature has always had more force than education.
One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.
Society therefore is as ancient as the world.
Tears are the silent language of grief.
The ear is the avenue to the heart.
The superfluous, a very necessary thing.
There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.
Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors.
What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.
He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.
Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.
My life is a struggle.
To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.
History should be written as philosophy.
Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.
Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.
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.
Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.
God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.
The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason.
Wherever there is a settled society, religion is necessary; the laws cover manifest crimes, and religion covers secret crimes.
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.
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.