Grayson Bain > Grayson's Quotes

“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”
― Voltaire

“Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day.”
― Voltaire

“God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh.”
― Voltaire

“Now, now my good man, this is no time to be making enemies."
(Voltaire on his deathbed in response to a priest asking him that he renounce Satan.)”
― Voltaire

“Ice-cream is exquisite. What a pity it isn't illegal.”
― Voltaire

“The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe.”
― Voltaire

“It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.”
― Voltaire

“Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.”
― Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary

“Men will always be mad, and those who think they can cure them are the maddest of all.”
― Voltaire

“No opinion is worth burning your neighbor for.”
― Voltaire

“I should like to know which is worse: to be ravished a hundred times by pirates, and have a buttock cut off, and run the gauntlet of the Bulgarians, and be flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, and be dissected, and have to row in a galley -- in short, to undergo all the miseries we have each of us suffered -- or simply to sit here and do nothing?'
That is a hard question,' said Candide.”
― Voltaire, Candide

“The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by Infinity is to contemplate the extent of human stupidity.”
― Voltaire

“But for what purpose was the earth formed?" asked Candide. "To drive us mad," replied Martin.”
― Voltaire, Candide

“It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.”
― Voltaire

“May God defend me from my friends: I can defend myself from my enemies. ”
― Voltaire

“Do you believe,' said Candide, 'that men have always massacred each other as they do to-day, that they have always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates, brigands, idiots, thieves, scoundrels, gluttons, drunkards, misers, envious, ambitious, bloody-minded, calumniators, debauchees, fanatics, hypocrites, and fools?'
Do you believe,' said Martin, 'that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they have found them?”
― Voltaire, Candide

“One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.”
― Voltaire

“The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us”
― Voltaire

“Opinions have caused more ills than the plague or earthquakes on this little globe of ours. ”
― Voltaire

“If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated."

(Notebooks)”
― Voltaire

“To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid - one must also be polite.”
― Voltaire

“One day everything will be well, that is our hope. Everything's fine today, that is our illusion”
― Voltaire

“I would rather obey a fine lion, much stronger than myself, than two hundred rats of my own species.”
― Voltaire

“If you have two religions in your land, the two will cut each other’s throats; but if you have thirty religions, they will dwell in peace”
― Voltaire

“He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked.”
― Voltaire

“It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books.”
― Voltaire

“In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.”
― Voltaire

“If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new.”
― Voltaire

“Four thousand volumes of metaphysics will not teach us what the soul is.”
― Voltaire

“In every province, the chief occupations, in order of importance, are lovemaking, malicious gossip, and talking nonsense.”
― Voltaire, Candide