Voltaire Quotes on Life
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. This page collects quotes attributed to Voltaire on the topic of life, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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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. -
“Let us cultivate our garden.”
Candide, closing line -
Attributed to Voltaire:
“All people are good except those who are idle.”
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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) -
“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