Voltaire Quotes on Politics
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 politics, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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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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“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 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.