"The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination."

"Prejudices are what fools use for reason."

"The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, their amphitheaters, for wild beasts to fight in."

"As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities."

"He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead."

"When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics."

"There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times."

"The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it."

"Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes."

"The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great."

"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices."

"All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women."

"Very learned women are to be found, in the same manner as female warriors; but they are seldom or ever inventors."

"It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind."

"In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation."

"It is not known precisely where angels dwell whether in the air, the void, or the planets. It has not been God's pleasure that we should be informed of their abode."

"Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men."

"It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape."

"The best is the enemy of the good."

"Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do."

"To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered."

"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."

"This self-love is the instrument of our preservation; it resembles the provision for the perpetuity of mankind: it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives us pleasure, and we must conceal it."

"Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world."

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

"When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion."

"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."

"Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare The truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare."

"Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel."

"God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."

"In every author let us distinguish the man from his works."

"In this country it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others."

"The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence."

"Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers."

"The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker."

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

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

"The multitude of books is making us ignorant."

"I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow."

"My life is a struggle."

"The ancients recommended us to sacrifice to the Graces, but Milton sacrificed to the Devil."

"Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?"

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

"He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked."

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

"Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors."

"The little may contrast with the great, in painting, but cannot be said to be contrary to it. Oppositions of colors contrast; but there are also colors contrary to each other, that is, which produce an ill effect because they shock the eye when brought very near it."

"It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue."

"Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too."

"Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him."