Voltaire

"The Devil and Love are but one."

"All thinkers have about the same principles, and form but one republic."

"Alas! how can we always resist? The devil tempts us, and the flesh is weak."

"Use, do not abuse : neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy."

"Whoever is suspicious incites treason."

"God created woman only to tame man."

"Anything serves as a pretext for the wicked."

"All joys do not cause laughter; great pleasures are serious: pleasures of love do not make us laugh."

"O unfortunates who sin without pleasure! in your errors be more reasonable ; be, at least, fortunate sinners. Since you must be damned, be damned for amiable faults."

"Laws should be clear, uniform, precise : to interpret them is nearly always to corrupt them."

"Pleasure has its time; so, too, has wisdom. Make love in thy youth, and in old age, attend to thy salvation."

"I do not know in the whole history of the world a hero, a worthy man, a prophet, a true Christian, who has not been the victim of the jealous, of a scamp, or of a sinister spirit."

"We never live: we are always in expectation of living."

"A republic is not founded on virtue, but on the ambition of its citizens."

"Heaven made virtue; man, the appearance."

"Dress changes the manners."

"Virtue: a word easy to pronounce, difficult to understand."

"We can not always oblige, but we can always speak obligingly."

"The best written book is a receipt for a pottage."

"Paradise was made for tender hearts; hell, for loveless hearts."

"Our country is that spot to which our heart is attached."

"It does not depend upon us to avoid poverty, but it does depend upon us to make that poverty respected."

"Labor is often the father of pleasure."

"Love is of all the passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head> the heart, and the senses."

"Superstition excites storms; philosophy appeases them."

"If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent one."

"Love is a canvas furnished by Nature, and embroidered by imagination."

"Satire lies about men of letters during their life, and eulogy after their death."

"Moderation is the pleasure of the wise."

"Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy: a very stupid daughter of a very wise mother."

"One dies twice: to cease to live is nothing, but to cease to love and to be loved is an insupportable death."

"It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere."

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures."

"If as much care were taken to perpetuate a race of fine men as is done to prevent the mixture of ignoble blood in horses and dogs, the genealogy of every one would be written on his face and displayed in his manners."

"All the passions die with the years; self-love alone never dies."

"Poetry is the music of the soul."

"O love! only a few rays of thy sacred fire radiate in this exhausted world!"

"All religions are more or less mixed with superstitions. Man is not reasonable enough to content himself with a pure and sensible religion, worthy of the Deity."

"Society depends upon women. The nations who confine them are unsociable."

"Andere Staaten besitzen eine Armee, Preußen ist eine Armee, die einen Staat besitzt."

""Wenn Sie einen Schweizer Bankier aus dem Fenster springen sehen, springen Sie hinterher. Es gibt bestimmt etwas zu verdienen." (Voltaire)"

"Ich missbillige, was Sie sagen, aber ich werde bis zum Tod Ihr Recht verteidigen, es zu sagen."

"Entschuldigen Sie, dass ich Ihnen einen langen Brief schreibe, für einen kurzen habe ich keine Zeit."

"Die Welt wird von drei Betrügern regiert: Mose, Jesus und Mohammed."

"Wer dich veranlassen kann, Absurditäten zu glauben, der kann dich auch veranlassen, Gräueltaten zu begehen."

"Zu allen Zeiten haben sich die Menschen vorgestellt, daß Gott die Flüche der Sterbenden erhört, besonders der Priester. Ein nützlicher und achtbarer Irrtum, wenn er das Verbrechen eindämmt."

"Wenn es Gott nicht gäbe, so müsste man ihn erfinden."

"Welch furchtbares Schicksal hat doch eine Auster, und was für Barbaren sind doch die Menschen!"

"Sie fragen, wie man zu solch einem großen Vermögen kommt? Man muss einfach Glück haben!"

"Scharlatanen, die Dummköpfen ihre Drogen teuer verkaufen, glaube ich nichts."