Voltaire

It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.

What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.

Faith is believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.

The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.

Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?

The longer we dwell on our misfortunes the greater is their power to harm us.

The superfluous is very necessary.

Froth at the top dregs at bottom but the middle excellent.

My prayer to God is a very short one "Oh Lord make my enemies ridiculous!" God has granted it.

England has forty-two religions and only two sauces.

Doubt is not a pleasant state but certainty is a ridiculous one.

The world embarrasses me and I cannot dream That this watch exists and has no watchmaker.

Fear succeeds crime - it is its punishment.

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.

If there had been a censorship of the press in Rome we should have had today neither Horace nor Juvenal nor the philosophical writings of Cicero.

Providence has given us hope and sleep as a compensation for the many cares of life.

The secret of boring people lies in telling them everything.

All the known world excepting only savage nations is governed by books.