"Shun idleness is the rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals."

Voltaire on idleness
4 fans of this quote   

"History is just the portrayal of crimes and misfortunes."

Voltaire on history and historians   

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

Voltaire on freedom
9 fans of this quote   

"The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it."

Voltaire on reason
4 fans of this quote   

"Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing."

Wilde, Oscar on experience
33 fans of this quote   

"She wore far too much rouge last night and not quite enough clothes. That is always a sign of despair in a woman."

Wilde, Oscar on desperation
24 fans of this quote   

"Through our sunless lanes creeps Poverty with her hungry eyes, and Sin with his sodden face follows close behind her. Misery wakes us in the morning and Shame sits with us at night."

Wilde, Oscar on despair
9 fans of this quote   

This quotation can be viewed in the context of a book

"Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people."

Wilde, Oscar on democracy
23 fans of this quote   

"For he who lives more lives than one: More deaths than one must die."

Wilde, Oscar on death
21 fans of this quote   

"One can survive everything nowadays, except death, and live down anything except a good reputation."

Wilde, Oscar on death
15 fans of this quote   

"The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself."

Wilde, Oscar on advice
42 fans of this quote   

"Art is not to be taught in Academies. It is what one looks at, not what one listens to, that makes the artist. The real schools should be the streets."

Wilde, Oscar on academia
20 fans of this quote   

"The world embarrasses me, and I cannot dream that this watch exists and has no watchmaker."

Voltaire on creation
3 fans of this quote   

"There are three kinds of despots. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the body. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the soul. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the soul and body alike. The first is called the Prince. The second is called the Pope. The third is called the People."

Wilde, Oscar on despotism
12 fans of this quote   

"Despotism is unjust to everybody, including the despot, who was probably made for better things."

Wilde, Oscar on despotism
7 fans of this quote   

"Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation."

Wilde, Oscar on discontent
26 fans of this quote   

This quotation can be viewed in the context of a book

"I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best."

Wilde, Oscar on excellence
34 fans of this quote   

"Nothing makes one so vain as being told that one is a sinner."

Wilde, Oscar on evangelism
13 fans of this quote   

"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."

Wilde, Oscar on education
39 fans of this quote   

"The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence."

Wilde, Oscar on education
12 fans of this quote   

"The first duty of life is to be as artificial as possible. What the second duty is no one as yet discovered."

Wilde, Oscar on duty
9 fans of this quote   

"Oh, duty is what one expects from others, it is not what one does oneself."

Wilde, Oscar on duty
12 fans of this quote   

This quotation can be viewed in the context of a book

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."

Wilde, Oscar on dream
60 fans of this quote   

"Society often forgives the criminal; it never forgives the dreamer."

Wilde, Oscar on dream
37 fans of this quote   

"To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered."

Voltaire on courtesy
6 fans of this quote   

"He who dies before many witnesses always does so with courage."

Voltaire on courage   

"Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road."

Voltaire on conformity
8 fans of this quote   

"The only way to compel men to speak good of us is to do it."

Voltaire on character
10 fans of this quote   

"Doubt is not a pleasant mental state, but certainty is a ridiculous one."

Voltaire on certainty
5 fans of this quote   

"It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books."

Voltaire on books - reading   

"He who doesn't have the spirit of his time, has all its misery."

Voltaire on spirituality
3 fans of this quote   

"A witty saying proves nothing."

Voltaire on speech   

"Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung."

Voltaire on song and singing
5 fans of this quote   

"I know of no great man except those who have rendered great services to the human race."

Voltaire on service
8 fans of this quote   

"I advise you to go on living solely to enrage those who are paying your annuities. It is the only pleasure I have left."

Voltaire on retirement   

"Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them."

Voltaire on superstition
3 fans of this quote   

"The husband who decides to surprise his wife is often very much surprised himself."

Voltaire on surprises
8 fans of this quote   

"In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other."

Voltaire on taxes and taxation   

"Common sense is not so common."

Voltaire on common sense
10 fans of this quote   

"The Pope is an idol whose hands are tied and whose feet are kissed."

Voltaire on churches