Tao Te Ching
Philosophical Dictionary
By Voltaire, François-Marie Arouet
One of Voltaire’s favorite sets of writings and a lifetime project, he came back to it frequently, published many different editions, and used it as a record of his evolving understandings and a culmination of his thinking on many different topics. A harsh critique of the Roman Catholic Church and other established but corrupt institutions, this book was hated by religious leaders, censored in many countries, confiscated and burned in some. Although at first published anonymously, it was immensely popular, immediately sold out, and had to be republished many times to keep up with demand.
Quotes from Philosophical Dictionary
“After building a shed at the end of my garden, I heard an ant and a mole arguing. The mole said, 'What a fine structure, it must have been a very powerful mole who built this.' The ant replied, 'You must be joking. This builder is obviously an an ant of mighty genius.'”
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“All men would be equal had they been without wants; it is the misery attached to our species which subordinates one man to another; inequality is not the real misfortune, it's dependence... why should servants be sought for when no service is required.”
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“As long as people believe in absurdities, they will continue to commit atrocities.”
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“Christians tricked, hated, excommunicated, condemned, and denounced each other because of unintelligible, minute differences in dogma that no one could understand. And that’s why they slaughtered each other over and over again.”
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“Clerics and vicars, ignorant imbeciles, whom other ignoramuses who libel and slander the Mohammedan religion saying it is voluptuos and sensual; there is not a word of truth in it, you have been deceived on this point as on so many others.”
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“From all those ideas which have crowded into my brain in conflict with each other, I have obtained nothing but uncertainty. However, it is much more sad and foolish for a man to believe he knows what in fact he does not.”
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“He does not join any of the sects which all contradict one another. His religion is most ancient and the most widespread... to do good is his worship... he succors the indigent and defends the oppressed.”
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“If Xenophon had no other merit than that of being the friend of the martyr Socrates, he would be interesting; but he was also a warrior, philosopher, poet, historian, agriculturist, and charming in society.”
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“If you could ask a toad, 'What is beauty?', he would reply that it is a female with two big round eyes coming out of her little head”
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“If you wish to obtain a great name or to found an establishment, be completely mad; but be sure that your madness corresponds with the turn and temper of your age.”
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“Opinion is called the queen of the world; it is so, for when reason opposes it, it is condemned to death. It must rise 20 times from its ashes to gradually drive away the usurper.”
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“Sexual love is the material of nature embroidered by the imagination.”
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“Tell me if there have been peoples other than the Christians and the Jews in whom zeal and religion wretchedly transformed into fanaticism, have inspired so many horrible cruelties…. Yes, the Mohammedans… As for the other nations there has not been one right from the existence of the world which has ever made a purely religious war.”
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“The best form of government? The rich will tell you an aristocracy, the people will reply a democracy; kings along prefer royalty. Why then is almost all the world governed by monarchs? Men are rarely worthy of governing themselves.”
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“The Inquisition is well known to be an admirable and truly Christian invention for increasing the power of the popes and monks, and rendering the population of a whole kingdom hypocrites.”
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“those who walk in the beaten path always throw stones at those who would show them a new way”
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“To do good is his worship... The Mohammedan cries out , 'Beware if you fail to make the pilgrimage to Mecca!'–the priest, 'Curses on you if you do not make the trip to Notre Dame'... He succors the indigent and defends those oppressed.”
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“To wish for the greatness of our own country is often to wish evil to neighboring countries. Those who wish their own country to be neither greater or smaller, richer or poorer are true citizens of the universe.”
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“To wish the greatness of our own country is often to wish evil to our neighbors. He who could bring himself to wish that his country should always remain as it is, would be a citizen of the universe.”
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“What has the vain science of words to do with the morality which should guide your actions?”
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“When one has destroyed an error, there is always someone who resuscitates it. One must combat ceaselessly.”
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