French - Writer | November 21, 1694 - May 30, 1778
When men do not have healthy notions of the Divinity, false ideas supplant them, just as in bad times one uses counterfeit money when there is no good money.
Voltaire
GoodMoneyMenIdeasBadHealthy
Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent.
TopBottomMiddleExcellent
When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.
MoneyReligionQuestionSame
Fear follows crime and is its punishment.
FearCrimePunishmentFollows
It is not known precisely where angels dwell whether in the air, the void, or the planets. It has not been God's pleasure that we should be informed of their abode.
GodDwellAngelsAirPleasureWhere
The flowery style is not unsuitable to public speeches or addresses, which amount only to compliment. The lighter beauties are in their place when there is nothing more solid to say; but the flowery style ought to be banished from a pleading, a sermon, or a didactic work.
WorkStylePlaceComplimentNothing
Woe to the makers of literal translations, who by rendering every word weaken the meaning! It is indeed by so doing that we can say the letter kills and the spirit gives life.
LifeDoingMeaningSaySpiritWoe
There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.
MenWhichNorTruthsTimes
Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest.
WhoEveryGoesRepentLeastAstray
Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.
NeedBothGovernmentsShepherds
Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.
AloneTimeMenReputationMaking
When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.
UnderstandWhoWhomHeHimselfDoes
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