The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.
Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.
God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh.
The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood.
It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one.
Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too.
Don't think money does everything or you are going to end up doing everything for money.
One day everything will be well, that is our hope. Everything’s fine today, that is our illusion.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid - one must also be well-mannered.
Opinions have caused more ills than the plague or earthquakes on this little globe of ours.
Life is a shipwreck but we must remember to sing in the lifeboats.
Sometimes we are less unhappy in being deceived by those we love, than in being undeceived by them.
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.
Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles.
Vous craignez les livres comme certaines bourgades ont craint les violons. Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde.
After all, it is no more surprising to me to be born twice than it is to be born once.
Morality is everywhere the same for all men, therefore it comes from God; sects differ, therefore they are the work of men.
I have no more than twenty acres of ground,” he replied, “the whole of which I cultivate myself with the help of my children; and our labor keeps off from us the three great evils – boredom, vice, and want.
Said Candide to Cacambo: My friend, you see how perishable are the riches of this world; there is nothing solid but virtue, and the happiness of seeing Cunegonde once more.
I know this love, that sovereign of hearts, that soul of our souls; yet it never cost me more than a kiss and twenty kicks on the backside. How could this beautiful cause produce in you an effect so abominable.