Voltaire Quotes on Time
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 time, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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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) -
“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 -
“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 -
“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)