FMFrancis M. Voltaire

73 collected words

Francis M. Voltaire

Life dates: 1694 AD — 1778 AD

Listed in the author section of Bartlett’s ninth-edition anthology, in the linked 1905 printing. Dates reflect that historical edition and may differ from modern scholarship.

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Quotations and sayings

01Undated

Character is what Nature has engraven on us; can we then efface it?

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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02Undated

Fanaticism is to superstition what delirium is to fever and rage to anger.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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03Undated

Fortune! There is no fortune; all is trial, or punishment, or recompense, or foresight.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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04Undated

Happiness is but a dream, and sorrow a reality.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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05Undated

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

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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06Undated

He who is only just is stern; he who is only wise lives in gloom.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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07Undated

He who seeks the truth should be of no country.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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08Undated

I very much fear that our little terraqueous globe is the lunatic asylum of the universe.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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09Undated

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

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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10Undated

Men are in general so tricky, so envious, and so cruel, that when we find one who is only weak, we are too happy.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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11Undated

One of the chief misfortunes of honest people is that they are cowardly.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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12Undated

Poetry says more and in fewer words than prose.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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13Undated

Self-love is a balloon inflated with wind, from which storms burst forth when one makes a puncture in it.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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14Undated

Self-love is the instrument of our preservation.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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15Undated

The discovery of what is true, and the practice of that which is good, are the two most important objects of philosophy.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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16Undated

The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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17Undated

The more we have read, the more we have learned, the more we have meditated, the better conditioned we are to affirm that we know nothing.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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18Undated

The multiplicity of facts and writings is become so great, that everything must soon be reduced to extracts.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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19Undated

The punishment of criminals should be of use; when a man is hanged he is good for nothing.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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20Undated

The secret of making one's self tiresome is not to know when to stop.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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21Undated

This is faith; it is nothing more than obedience.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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22Undated

Very learned women are to be met with, just as female warriors; but they are seldom or never inventors.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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23Undated

What a heavy burden is a name that has become too soon famous!

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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24Undated

When neither he to whom we speak nor he who speaks to us understands, that is metaphysics.

Francis M. Voltaire / quote

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