Voltaire Quotes
Francois-Marie Arouet, known by his pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit and his advocacy of civil liberties. He authored more than seventy works across virtually every literary form, including the satirical novella Candide and the Philosophical Dictionary. The quotes below are attributed to Voltaire, organized by topic.
Browse Voltaire by topic
Voltaire on Death
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“Satire lies about men of letters during their life, and eulogy after their death.”
A Thousand Flashes of French Wit, Wisdom, and Wickedness(1902) | p. 105 -
“A single part of physics occupies the lives of many men, and often leaves them dying in uncertainty.”
1730s | "A Madame la Marquise du Châtelet, Avant-Propos", Eléments de Philosophie de Newton (1738)
Voltaire on God
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“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”
Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer. -
“This body which called itself and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.”
1750s | Essai sur l'histoire générale et sur les mœurs et l'esprit des nations, Chapter 70 (1756) -
“La superstition est à la religion ce que l'astrologie est à l'astronomie, la fille très folle d'une mère très sage. Ces deux filles ont longtemps subjugué toute la terre.”
1760s | Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy, the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth. "Whether it is useful to maintain the people in supers -
“Religion may be purified . This great work was begun two hundred years ago: but men can only bear light to come in upon them by degrees.”
1760s | The critical review, or annals of literature, Volume XXVI , by A Society of Gentlemen (1768) p. 450 -
“I always made one prayer to God, a very short one. Here it is: "O Lord, make our enemies quite ridiculous!" God granted it.”
1760s | Letter to Étienne Noël Damilaville (16 May 1767) -
“Morality is everywhere the same for all men, therefore it comes from God; sects differ, therefore they are the work of men.”
Dictionnaire philosophique portatif(1764) | "Atheist" (1764)
Voltaire on Happiness
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“L'homme doit être content, dit-on; mais de quoi?”
Man ought to be content, it is said; but with what? | Pensées, Remarques, et Observations de Voltaire; ouvrage posthume (1802) Posthumously published "Thoughts, remarks and observations" believed to be by Voltaire -
“Man ought to be content, it is said; but with what?”
L'homme doit être content, dit-on; mais de quoi? -
“If there were only one religion in England there would be danger of despotism, if there were two they would cut each other's throats, but there are thirty, and they live in peace and happiness.”
1730s | Letters on England , letter 6, "On the Presbyterians", trans. Leonard Tancock (Penguin Books, 1980) p. 41, published first in English in 1733 -
“Use, do not abuse; as the wise man commands. I flee Epictetus and Petronius alike. Neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.”
1730s | "Cinquième discours: sur la nature de plaisir", Sept Discours en Vers sur l'Homme (1738) -
“We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one.”
1750s | Notebooks (c.1735-c.1750) A variation on this remark can be found in the same notebook: Men who look for happiness are like drunkards who cannot find their house but know that they have one [ Les homm
Voltaire on Knowledge
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Attributed to Voltaire:
“Common sense is not so common.”
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Attributed to Voltaire:
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”
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Attributed to Voltaire:
“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”
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“On parle toujours mal quand on n'a rien à dire.”
One always speaks badly when one has nothing to say. "Commentaires sur Corneille", Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire (1827) -
“One always speaks badly when one has nothing to say. "Commentaires sur Corneille", Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire (1827)”
On parle toujours mal quand on n'a rien à dire. -
“Pensées, Remarques, et Observations de Voltaire; ouvrage posthume (1802) Posthumously published "Thoughts, remarks and observations" believed to be by Voltaire”
L'homme doit être content, dit-on; mais de quoi? -
“Le public est une bête féroce: il faut l'enchaîner ou la fuir.”
The public is a ferocious beast: one must chain it up or flee from it. Letter to Mademoiselle Quinault, quoted in Charles Sainte-Beuve, "Lettres inédites de Voltaire," Causeries de Lundi (20 October 1856) ; an English translation can be found on this page: -
“L'amour est de toutes les passions la plus forte, parce qu'elle attaque à la fois la tête, le cœur et le corps.”
Love is of all the passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart, and the body. Le Dernier Volume Des Œuvres De Voltaire: Contes — Comédie — Pensées -— Poésies — Lettres (1862) -
“Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy, the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.”
1760s | "Whether it is useful to maintain the people in superstition," Treatise on Toleration (1763) -
“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.”
A Thousand Flashes of French Wit, Wisdom, and Wickedness(1902) | p. 52 -
“Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy: a very stupid daughter of a very wise mother.”
A Thousand Flashes of French Wit, Wisdom, and Wickedness(1902) | p. 111 -
“Where is the prince sufficiently educated to know that for seventeen hundred years the Christian sect has done nothing but harm?”
1760s | Letters of Voltaire and Frederick the Great (New York: Brentano's, 1927), transl. Richard Aldington , letter 160 from Voltaire to Frederick II of Prussia, 6 April 1767 [10] -
“No oaths, no seals, no official mummeries were used; the treaty was ratified on both sides with a yea, yea — the only one, says Voltaire, that the world has known, never sworn to and never broken.”
The History of the Quakers (1762) | As quoted in William Penn: An Historical Biography (1851) by William Hepworth Dixon
Voltaire on Life
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“Let us cultivate our garden.”
Candide, closing line -
“Life is bristling with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to cultivate one's garden.”
1760s | Letter to Pierre-Joseph Luneau de Boisjermain (21 October 1769), from Oeuvres Complètes de Voltaire: Correspondance [Garnier frères, Paris, 1882], vol. XIV, letter # 7692 (p. 478) -
“Life is long enough for him who knows how to use it. Working and thinking extend its limits.”
A Thousand Flashes of French Wit, Wisdom, and Wickedness(1902) | p. 219
Voltaire on Love
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“Love is of all the passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart, and the body. Le Dernier Volume Des Œuvres De Voltaire: Contes — Comédie — Pensées -— Poésies — Lettres (1862)”
L'amour est de toutes les passions la plus forte, parce qu'elle attaque à la fois la tête, le cœur et le corps. -
“Written by Voltaire in an over-long letter to a friend, quoted to A. P. Martinich in Philosophical Writing: An Introduction , Note to the Second Edition (1996)”
If I had had more time, this letter would have been shorter. -
“I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.”
1770s | Déclaration de Voltaire, note to his secretary, Jean-Louis Wagnière (28 February 1778) -
“Pleasure has its time; so, too, has wisdom. Make love in thy youth, and in old age, attend to thy salvation.”
A Thousand Flashes of French Wit, Wisdom, and Wickedness(1902) | p. 50 -
“One dies twice: to cease to live is nothing, but to cease to love and to be loved is an insupportable death.”
A Thousand Flashes of French Wit, Wisdom, and Wickedness(1902) | p. 113 -
“While loving glory so much how can you persist in a plan which will cause you to lose it?”
1750s | Letters of Voltaire and Frederick the Great (New York: Brentano's, 1927), transl. Richard Aldington , letter 130 from Voltaire to Frederick II of Prussia, October 1757 [7]
Voltaire on Mind
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Attributed to Voltaire:
“Prejudices are what fools use for reason.”
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“Men will always be mad, and those who think they can cure them are the maddest of all.”
1760s | Letter to Louise Dorothea of Meiningen , duchess of Saxe-Gotha Madame (30 January 1762) -
“Men use thought only to justify their wrongdoings, and speech only to conceal their thoughts.”
1760s | Dialogue 14 , Le Chapon et la Poularde (1766); reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations , 10th ed. (1919)
Voltaire on Nature
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“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.”
Dictionnaire philosophique portatif(1764) | "Tolerance" (1764)
Voltaire on Politics
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“It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.”
Il est dangereux d'avoir raison dans des choses où des hommes accrédités ont tort. -
Attributed to Voltaire:
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
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“Voltaire inscribed on a statue of Love: "Whoever thou art, behold thy master! He rules thee, or has ruled thee, or will rule thee!"”
A Thousand Flashes of French Wit, Wisdom, and Wickedness(1902) | p. 159 -
“A minister of state is excusable for the harm he does when the helm of government has forced his hand in a storm; but in the calm he is guilty of all the good he does not do.”
1750s | Le Siècle de Louis XIV , ch. VI: "État de la France jusqu'à la mort du cardinal Mazarin en 1661" (1752) Unsourced paraphrase or variant translation: Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
Voltaire on Time
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“If I had had more time, this letter would have been shorter.”
Written by Voltaire in an over-long letter to a friend, quoted to A. P. Martinich in Philosophical Writing: An Introduction , Note to the Second Edition (1996) -
“The king [Frederic] has sent me some of his dirty linen to wash; I will wash yours another time.”
1750s | Reply to General Manstein. Voltaire writes to his niece Dennis, July 24, 1752, "Voilà le roi qui m'envoie son linge à blanchir"; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations , 10th ed. (1919)
Voltaire on Truth
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“It is the privilege of true genius , and certainly of the genius that opens a new road, to make without punishment great mistakes.”
1750s | "Siècle de Louis XIV", ch. 32 (1751), qtd. in Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation (1818), "Criticism of the Kantian philosophy" -
“"A false science makes atheists, a true science prostrates men before the Deity"”
1760s | The critical review, or annals of literature, Volume XXVI , by A Society of Gentlemen (1768) p. 450
Voltaire on Virtue
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“The best is the enemy of the good.”
Il est triste que souvent, pour être bon patriote, on soit l'ennemi du reste des hommes. -
Attributed to Voltaire:
“All people are good except those who are idle.”
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“It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.”
1750s | Notebooks (c.1735-c.1750) Note: This quotation and the three that follow directly below are from the so-called Leningrad Notebook, also known as Le Sottisier; it is one of several posthumously publish
Things actually not said by Voltaire
A number of widely-shared lines are circulated as Voltaire but are in fact from someone else. Did Voltaire say these? No. Each entry below pairs the line with the person who actually wrote it.
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
This line was written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall in her 1906 book The Friends of Voltaire, where she used it as a one-sentence summary of Voltaire's attitude toward freedom of speech. Hall later confirmed in correspondence that the words were her own and not a quotation. Despite this, the line continues to be cited as a direct Voltaire quotation in countless books and speeches.
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Source: "Nowadays what isn't worth saying is sung" ( Aujourd'hui ce qui ne vaut pas la peine d'être dit, on le chante ) — Pierre de Beaumarchais , Le Barbier de Séville (1775), act I, scene II. | In George Bernard Shaw 's Man and Superman , act II, there is the following dialogue: TANNER: Let me rem
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Business is the salt of life.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: This is a proverb which can be found in Robert Codrington's "Youth's Behaviour, Second Part" (1672) and in Thomas Fuller's "Gnomologia" (1732)
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Croyez ceux qui cherchent la vérité, doutez de ceux qui la trouvent; doutez de tout, mais ne doutez pas de vous-même" — André Gide , Ainsi soit-il; ou, Les Jeux sont faits (1952), page 174.
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Garantissez-moi de mes amis, écrivait Gourville proscrit et fugitif, je saurai me défendre de mes ennemis. ("Defend me from my friends," wrote Gourville, exile and fugitive, "I can defend myself from my enemies.") — Gabriel Sénac de Meilhan , Considérations sur l'esprit et les moeurs (1788): "De L'A
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: According to The Veterinarian (Monthly Journal of Veterinary Science) for 1851, edited by Mr. Percivall, this is Ben Jonson 's "satirical definition of physic".
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Creator — A comedian whose audience is afraid to laugh." — H.L. Mencken , A Book of Burlesques (1920), p. 203. and A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949), Ch. 30
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Il est encore plus facile de juger de l'esprit d'un homme par ses questions que par ses réponses. (It is easier to judge the mind of a man by his questions rather than his answers) — Pierre-Marc-Gaston, duc de Lévis (1764-1830), Maximes et réflexions sur différents sujets de morale et de politique (
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Stanisław Jerzy Lec , More Unkempt Thoughts [ Myśli nieuczesane nowe ] (1964)
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Rien n'est plus contraire à la religion et au clergé qu'une tête sensée et raisonnable. — Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach , Théologie portative, ou Dictionnaire abrégé de la religion chrétienne (1768): Folie
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“To determine the true rulers of any society, all you must do is ask yourself this question: Who is it that I am not permitted to criticize?”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Kevin Strom , "All America Must Know the Terror That is Upon Us" (1993) | Variant: "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize. | Commonly repeated by far-right politicians. [ 1 ] [ 2 ]
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“One hundred years from my day there will not be a Bible in the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: As quoted in Hefley What's so great about the Bible (1969), p. 30 | Variant: "Another century and there will not be a Bible on earth!" George Sweeting Living in a Dying World (1972), p. 59 | Related: "...only 50 years after his death the Geneva Bible Society used his press and house to produce stack
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“France is a nation with one religion and many sauces; England is a nation with many religions and only one sauce.”
This quote is commonly attributed to philosophers but its actual source is uncertain or unverified in the standard reference works. Wikiquote's note on this attribution: Actual source is Louis Eustache Ude (1829) The French Cook; A System of Fashionable and Economical Cookery, Adapted to the use of English Families (10th edition) p. xli (London : John Ebers) It is very remarkable, that in France, where there is but one religion, the sauces are infinitely varied, whi
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.”
For a discussion of this quotation, which is uncertain in origin but was quoted long before Voltaire, see the following: [13] [ dead link ]
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Related: "...only 50 years after his death the Geneva Bible Society used his press and house to produce stacks of Bibles."”
Geisler, Norman L. and Nix, William E., A General Introduction to the Bible (Chicago, Moody Press, 1968), p. 123-124. See also McDowell The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict (1999).
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Actual source is Louis Eustache Ude (1829) The French Cook; A System of Fashionable and Economical Cookery, Adapted to the use of English Families (10th edition) p. xli (London : John Ebers)”
It is very remarkable, that in France, where there is but one religion, the sauces are infinitely varied, whilst in England, where the different sects are innumerable, there is, we may say, but one single sauce. Melted butter, in English cookery, plays nearly the same part as the Lord Mayor's coach at civic ceremonies, calomel in modern medicine, or silver forks in the fashionable novels. Melted butter and anchovies, melted butter and capers, melted butter and parsley, melted butter and eggs, and melted butter for ever: this is a sample of the national cookery of this country.
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Related quotes and attributions:”
Voltaire: If there were only one religion in England... quote above Giuseppe Baretti (1768) An Account of the Manners and Customs of Italy Vol. II p. 316 (London : T. Davies ; L. Davis & C. Raymer) I once heard a Frenchman swear that he hated the English, parce qu'ils versent du beurre fondu sur leur veau rôti . Giuseppe Baretti (1777) Discours sur Shakespeare et sur monsieur de Voltaire p. 39 (London; Paris : J. Nourse; Durand neveu) N'a-t-il [sc. Voltaire] pas dit dans ses Ouvrages qu' en Angleterre il n'y a pas d'hypocrites d'aucune espèce , et qu' on verse du beurre fondu sur le Roast-Beef ? Elizabeth, Princess Berkeley (1826) Memoirs of the Margravine of Anspach, Formerly Lady Craven…
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Giuseppe Baretti (1768) An Account of the Manners and Customs of Italy Vol. II p. 316 (London : T. Davies ; L. Davis & C. Raymer)”
I once heard a Frenchman swear that he hated the English, parce qu'ils versent du beurre fondu sur leur veau rôti .
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Giuseppe Baretti (1777) Discours sur Shakespeare et sur monsieur de Voltaire p. 39 (London; Paris : J. Nourse; Durand neveu)”
N'a-t-il [sc. Voltaire] pas dit dans ses Ouvrages qu' en Angleterre il n'y a pas d'hypocrites d'aucune espèce , et qu' on verse du beurre fondu sur le Roast-Beef ?
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“L'étymologie est une science où les voyelles ne font rien et les consonnes fort peu de chose.”
Etymology is a science in which vowels signify nothing at all, and consonants very little. Investigations of the comment include: Jan Noordegraaf (1997) "Multatuli, Voltaire en de etymologie" in Voorlopig verleden. Taalkundige plaatsbepalingen 1797-1960 (Münster: Nodus Publikationen) pp. 212-214 ( ISBN 3-89323-276-1 ). John Considine (January 2009) "“Les voyelles ne font rien, et les consonnes fort peu de chose”: On the history of Voltaire’s supposed comment on etymology" Historiographia Linguistica Volume 36, Issue 1, pp. 181-189; doi : 10.1075/hl.36.1.19con Garson O'Toole (25 March 2019) "In Etymology Vowels Count for Nothing and Consonants for Very Little" Quote Investigator From these,… (Disputed.)
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Investigations of the comment include:”
Jan Noordegraaf (1997) "Multatuli, Voltaire en de etymologie" in Voorlopig verleden. Taalkundige plaatsbepalingen 1797-1960 (Münster: Nodus Publikationen) pp. 212-214 ( ISBN 3-89323-276-1 ). John Considine (January 2009) "“Les voyelles ne font rien, et les consonnes fort peu de chose”: On the history of Voltaire’s supposed comment on etymology" Historiographia Linguistica Volume 36, Issue 1, pp. 181-189; doi : 10.1075/hl.36.1.19con Garson O'Toole (25 March 2019) "In Etymology Vowels Count for Nothing and Consonants for Very Little" Quote Investigator (Disputed.)
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“From these, the earliest version found is already attributed to Voltaire: August Wilhelm von Schlegel (Part 1) of "Review of 'Altdeutsche Wälder' vol.1 by the Grimm brothers (Cassel 1813)" (1815) Heidelberger Jahrbücher der Literatur no. 46 pp. 734-5”
Mit solchen Allgemeinsätzen kann man Alles erkünsteln, und macht am Ende die Etymologie zu einer Wissenschaft, wobei, wie Voltaire sagt, die Vokale für gar nichts, die Konsonanten für wenig gerechnet werden. With such generalities one can artificialize everything, and in the end turn etymology into a science in which, as Voltaire says, the vowels are reckoned for nothing, the consonants for little. (Disputed.)
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“The earliest French version has singular voyelle / consonne : Anonymous (October 1833) "Art. VII.-Grimm's Deutche Grammatik . Gottingen. 1822-1831. 3 vols" , The Quarterly Review (John Murray, London) volume 50 p. 169:”
It is in works of this nature that Germany is pre-eminent among the European nations; and it is long since those who are interested in philological researches have made a more valuable acquisition, or one more fit to wipe out from their favourite study the reproach which has been somewhat speciously cast on it, that it is a science ‘où la voyelle ne fait rien, et la consonne fort peu de chose.’ (Disputed.)
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Friedrich Max Müller ascribes the same French to Voltaire in October 1851: "Review of Franz Bopp, Comparative Grammar of the Sanskrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic, German, and Sclavonic Languages , transl. by Edward Backhouse Eastwick" Edinburgh Review v. 94, no. CXCII p. 298”
Müller gives the plural voyelles / consonnes version in 1864 "Lecture VI: On the Principles of Etymology" Lectures on the Science of Language; Second Series (London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green) p.238 Leonard Bloomfield (1933) Language (New York: Henry Holt) cites Muller 1864. ( s.1.3 p.6 and Notes p.511 ) (Disputed.)
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Mit solchen Allgemeinsätzen kann man Alles erkünsteln, und macht am Ende die Etymologie zu einer Wissenschaft, wobei, wie Voltaire sagt, die Vokale für gar nichts, die Konsonanten für wenig gerechnet werden.”
With such generalities one can artificialize everything, and in the end turn etymology into a science in which, as Voltaire says, the vowels are reckoned for nothing, the consonants for little. (Disputed.)
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Les médecins administrent des médicaments dont ils savent très peu, à des malades dont ils savent moins, pour guérir des maladies dont ils ne savent rien.”
Doctors are men who prescribe medicine of which they know little, to human beings of whom they know less, to cure diseases of which they know nothing. Note: This attribution to Voltaire appears in Strauss' Familiar Medical Quotations (1968), p. 394, and in publications as early as 1956 [12] ; the quotation in French does not, however, appear to be original, and is probably a relatively modern invention, only quoted in recent (21st century) published works, which attribute it to "Voltaire" without citing any source. (Disputed.)
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“I cannot imagine how the clockwork of the universe can exist without a clockmaker.”
As attributed in More Random Walks in Science : An Anthology (1982) by Robert L. Weber, p. 65 (Disputed.)
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“L'adjectif est l'ennemi du substantif.”
Translation: The adjective is the enemy of the substantive. Variants: The adjective is the enemy of the noun. Quote attributed in Arthur Schopenhauer (translated by Mrs Rudolf Dircks), Essays of Schopenhauer (2004), Kessinger Publishing, p. 31 (Disputed.)
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“Variants: The adjective is the enemy of the noun.”
Quote attributed in Arthur Schopenhauer (translated by Mrs Rudolf Dircks), Essays of Schopenhauer (2004), Kessinger Publishing, p. 31 (Disputed.)
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Did Voltaire say this? No.
“The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.”
Attributed to Voltaire in Likharev, K.K. (2021). On Government and Politics. In: Likharev, K.K. (eds) Essential Quotes for Scientists and Engineers. Springer, Cham. https://doi-org.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63332-5_18 , with a footnote stating "As quoted, without a date, by Laurence J. Peter in 1977." Also quoted as "The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination." (Disputed.)