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- Famous Quotes Throughout World History -
The Enlightenment - Voltaire

Voltaire 1694 - 1778 1736 "The superfluous, a very necessary thing." 1737 - Discours en vers sur l'homme "The secret of being a bore ... is to tell everything."

1756
"This agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire."

1759 - Candide
"In this best of possible worlds ... all is for the best."
(Usually quoted as: "All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.")

1759 - Candide
"If we do not find anything pleasant, at least we shall find something new."

1759 - Candide
"In this country (England) it is thought well to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others."

November 28, 1762
"Whatever you do, stamp out superstition, and love those who love you."

1763 - Dialogues
"(Men) use thought only to justify their injustices, and speech only to conceal their thoughts."

1764 - Dictionnaire philosophique
"Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them."

1767 - l'Ingenu
"History is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes."

1772 - Contes
"The best is the enemy of the good."

1785
"We owe respect to the living; to the dead we owe only truth."

"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."

"God is on the side not of the big battalions, but of the best shots."

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
(Attributed to Voltaire, but actually S. G. Tallentyre's summary of Voltaire's attitude towards Helvetius following the burning of the latter's De l'esprit in 1759)

On being asked why no woman had ever written 'a tolerable tragedy'
"The composition of a tragedy requires testicles."

"The English plays are like their English puddings: nobody bas any taste for them but themselves."

On the burning of the De l'esprit:
"What a fuss about an omelette!"

On being asked to renounce the Devil, on his deathbed:
"This is no time for making new enemies." (attributed)

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- Famous Quotes Throughout World History -

| Index of Quotes by Speaker / Historical Period |
| The Great Quotes of Ancient Greece |
| Profound Quotes of Ancient Rome - BC |
| Quotes from the Roman Empire - AD |
| Famous Quotes from the Dark and Middle Ages |
| Relevant Quotes from the Reformation and Renaissance |
| Quotes from England: 15th, 16th and 17th Centuries |
| Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution Quotes | Voltaire |
| Quotes from the French Revolution and Napoleon Era |
| Modern European History Quotes from the 1800s |
| Quotes from Europe and Asia - 1900s | Winston Churchill |

Famous Quotes from American History
| Benjamin Franklin | Quotes from America in the 1700s |
| Thomas Jefferson | United States Quotes from the 1800s |
| Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War | Mark Twain |
| American Quotes from the Early 1900s and World War I |
| US 20th-Century and World War II Quotes |
| Famous American Pop Culture Quotes |