voltaire

Link	Quote	Tags	Author
0a369a3	Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too.	independence-of-thought thinking tolerance voltaire	Voltaire
391e08f	I should like to know which is worse: to be ravished a hundred times by pirates, and have a buttock cut off, and run the gauntlet of the Bulgarians, and be flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, and be dissected, and have to row in a galley -- in short, to undergo all the miseries we have each of us suffered -- or simply to sit here and do nothing?' That is a hard question,' said Candide.	voltaire	Voltaire
f51672f	Thus, though I dislike to differ with such a great man, was simply ludicrous when he said that if god did not exist it would be necessary to invent him. The human invention of god is the problem to begin with.	atheist existence humor invention inventions no-remorse problem voltaire	Christopher Hitchens
850ae60	You are very harsh.' 'I have seen the world.	voltaire world	Voltaire
a5ba3bf	But there must be some pleasure in condemning everything--in perceiving faults where others think they see beauties.' 'You mean there is pleasure in having no pleasure.	pleasure voltaire	Voltaire
8a5a4d9	It is love; love, the comfort of the human species, the preserver of the universe, the soul of all sentient beings, love, tender love.	love pangloss voltaire	Voltaire
c98c0d7	As a convinced atheist, I ought to agree with Voltaire that Judaism is not just one more religion, but in its way the root of religious evil. Without the stern, joyless rabbis and their 613 dour prohibitions, we might have avoided the whole nightmare of the Old Testament, and the brutal, crude wrenching of that into prophecy-derived Christianity, and the later plagiarism and mutation of Judaism and Christianity into the various rival forms of Islam. Much of the time, I do concur with Voltaire, but not without acknowledging that Judaism is dialectical. There is, after all, a specifically Jewish version of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, with a specifically Jewish name--the --for itself. The term derives from the word for 'mind' or 'intellect,' and it is naturally associated with ethics rather than rituals, life rather than prohibitions, and assimilation over 'exile' or 'return.' It's everlastingly linked to the name of the great German teacher Moses Mendelssohn, one of those conspicuous Jewish hunchbacks who so upset and embarrassed Isaiah Berlin. (The other way to upset or embarrass Berlin, I found, was to mention that he himself was a cousin of Menachem Schneerson, the 'messianic' Lubavitcher .) However, even pre-enlightenment Judaism forces its adherents to study and think, it reluctantly teaches them what others think, and it may even teach them to think also.	antisemitism assimilation atheism chabad-messianism christianity dialectics education enlightenment ethics evil exile free-thought germans haskalah intellect isaiah-berlin islam judaism life menachem-mendel-schneerson messianism monotheism moses-mendelssohn old-testament plagiarism prohibitions prophecy rabbis rebbes religion return rituals study thought voltaire	Christopher Hitchens
850d0a4	"Joie est mon caractere, C'est la faute a Voltaire; Misere est mon trousseau C'est la faute a Rousseau. [Joy is my character, 'Tis the fault of Voltaire; Misery is my trousseau	rousseau voltaire	Victor Hugo
3b54aa5	As a rule, theologians know nothing of this world, and far less of the next; but they have the power of stating the most absurd propositions with faces solemn as stupidity touched by fear. It is a part of their business to malign and vilify the , , , , Tyndalls, , , , and Drapers, and to bow with uncovered heads before the murderers, adulterers, and persecutors of the world. They are, for the most part, engaged in poisoning the minds of the young, prejudicing children against science, teaching the astronomy and geology of the bible, and inducing all to desert the sublime standard of reason.	adulterers afterlife alexander-humboldt alexander-von-humboldt astronomy charles-darwin children-science darwin david-hume draper ernst-haeckel fear geology haeckel herbert-spencer humboldt hume john-draper john-tyndall john-william-draper knowledge mind murderers paine persecutors poison power prejudice propositions reason spencer stupidity sublime theologian theologians theology thomas-paine tyndall vilify voltaire wilhelm-humboldt wilhelm-von-humboldt world	Robert G. Ingersoll
d74a680	"There are, and always have been, destructive pseudo-scientific notions linked to race and religion; these are the most widespread and damaging. Hopefully, educated people can succeed in shedding light into these areas of prejudice and ignorance, for as	destructive education ignorance prejudice pseudo-science race voltaire	Martin Gardner
029385b	Kissinger projects a strong impression of a man at home in the world and on top of his brief. But there are a number of occasions when it suits him to pose as a sort of Candide: naive, and ill-prepared for and easily unhorsed by events. No doubt this pose costs him something in point of self-esteem. It is a pose, furthermore, which he often adopts at precisely the time when the record shows him to be knowledgeable, and when knowledge or foreknowledge would also confront him with charges of responsibility or complicity.	candide crime cyprus henry-kissinger naivete self-esteem turkey turkish-invasion-of-cyprus voltaire war-crimes	Christopher Hitchens
418f97b	"[Voltaire] theoretically prefers a republic, but he knows its flaws: it permits factions which, if they do not bring on civil war, at least destroy national unity; it is suited only to small states protected by geographic situation, and as yet unspoiled and untorn with wealth; in general "men are rarely worthy to govern themselves." Republics are transient at best; they are the first form of society, arising from the union of families; the American Indians lived in tribal republics, and Africa is full of such democracies. but differentiation of economic status puts an end to these egalitarian governments; and differentiation is the inevitable accompaniment of development."	democracy development economics egalitarianism government monarchy politics republic voltaire	Will Durant
06a12ba	? Por que morian tan jovenes?, se pregunta Stefan Zweig hablando de aquella generacion y de su lucha con el demonio. Novalis, quien, casi por su voluntad, un dia cerro los ojos como un nino y magicamente murio, decia en sus cuadernos que todos los humanos mueren maduros y en el momento adecuado, cuando han cumplido plenamente el aprendizaje que les corresponde. Ello significaria que Victor Hugo, Goethe y Voltaire que superaron los ochenta anos, no vivieron mas que keats, que a los veinticinto dejo de oir al ruisenor; ni mas que Chatterton, quien despues de crear un linaje de poetas, sus genealogias, sus obras, su correspondencia, su aparato critico, sus biografias y su hermeneutica, se extinguio como una llama en su buhardilla a la edad de diescisiete anos; ni mas que el propio Novalis, que al morir, a los veintinueve, nos revelo que lo habia vivido todo.	goethe keats muerte novalis voltaire zweig	William Ospina

Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too.

independence-of-thought thinking tolerance voltaire

Voltaire

391e08f

I should like to know which is worse: to be ravished a hundred times by pirates, and have a buttock cut off, and run the gauntlet of the Bulgarians, and be flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, and be dissected, and have to row in a galley -- in short, to undergo all the miseries we have each of us suffered -- or simply to sit here and do nothing?' That is a hard question,' said Candide.

voltaire

Voltaire

f51672f

Thus, though I dislike to differ with such a great man, was simply ludicrous when he said that if god did not exist it would be necessary to invent him. The human invention of god is the problem to begin with.

atheist existence humor invention inventions no-remorse problem voltaire

Christopher Hitchens

850ae60

You are very harsh.' 'I have seen the world.

voltaire world

Voltaire

a5ba3bf

But there must be some pleasure in condemning everything--in perceiving faults where others think they see beauties.' 'You mean there is pleasure in having no pleasure.

pleasure voltaire

Voltaire

8a5a4d9

It is love; love, the comfort of the human species, the preserver of the universe, the soul of all sentient beings, love, tender love.

love pangloss voltaire

Voltaire

c98c0d7

As a convinced atheist, I ought to agree with Voltaire that Judaism is not just one more religion, but in its way the root of religious evil. Without the stern, joyless rabbis and their 613 dour prohibitions, we might have avoided the whole nightmare of the Old Testament, and the brutal, crude wrenching of that into prophecy-derived Christianity, and the later plagiarism and mutation of Judaism and Christianity into the various rival forms of Islam. Much of the time, I do concur with Voltaire, but not without acknowledging that Judaism is dialectical. There is, after all, a specifically Jewish version of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, with a specifically Jewish name--the --for itself. The term derives from the word for 'mind' or 'intellect,' and it is naturally associated with ethics rather than rituals, life rather than prohibitions, and assimilation over 'exile' or 'return.' It's everlastingly linked to the name of the great German teacher Moses Mendelssohn, one of those conspicuous Jewish hunchbacks who so upset and embarrassed Isaiah Berlin. (The other way to upset or embarrass Berlin, I found, was to mention that he himself was a cousin of Menachem Schneerson, the 'messianic' Lubavitcher .) However, even pre-enlightenment Judaism forces its adherents to study and think, it reluctantly teaches them what others think, and it may even teach them to think also.

antisemitism assimilation atheism chabad-messianism christianity dialectics education enlightenment ethics evil exile free-thought germans haskalah intellect isaiah-berlin islam judaism life menachem-mendel-schneerson messianism monotheism moses-mendelssohn old-testament plagiarism prohibitions prophecy rabbis rebbes religion return rituals study thought voltaire

Christopher Hitchens

850d0a4

"Joie est mon caractere, C'est la faute a Voltaire; Misere est mon trousseau C'est la faute a Rousseau. [Joy is my character, 'Tis the fault of Voltaire; Misery is my trousseau

rousseau voltaire

Victor Hugo

3b54aa5

As a rule, theologians know nothing of this world, and far less of the next; but they have the power of stating the most absurd propositions with faces solemn as stupidity touched by fear. It is a part of their business to malign and vilify the , , , , Tyndalls, , , , and Drapers, and to bow with uncovered heads before the murderers, adulterers, and persecutors of the world. They are, for the most part, engaged in poisoning the minds of the young, prejudicing children against science, teaching the astronomy and geology of the bible, and inducing all to desert the sublime standard of reason.

adulterers afterlife alexander-humboldt alexander-von-humboldt astronomy charles-darwin children-science darwin david-hume draper ernst-haeckel fear geology haeckel herbert-spencer humboldt hume john-draper john-tyndall john-william-draper knowledge mind murderers paine persecutors poison power prejudice propositions reason spencer stupidity sublime theologian theologians theology thomas-paine tyndall vilify voltaire wilhelm-humboldt wilhelm-von-humboldt world

Robert G. Ingersoll

d74a680

"There are, and always have been, destructive pseudo-scientific notions linked to race and religion; these are the most widespread and damaging. Hopefully, educated people can succeed in shedding light into these areas of prejudice and ignorance, for as

destructive education ignorance prejudice pseudo-science race voltaire

Martin Gardner

029385b

Kissinger projects a strong impression of a man at home in the world and on top of his brief. But there are a number of occasions when it suits him to pose as a sort of Candide: naive, and ill-prepared for and easily unhorsed by events. No doubt this pose costs him something in point of self-esteem. It is a pose, furthermore, which he often adopts at precisely the time when the record shows him to be knowledgeable, and when knowledge or foreknowledge would also confront him with charges of responsibility or complicity.

candide crime cyprus henry-kissinger naivete self-esteem turkey turkish-invasion-of-cyprus voltaire war-crimes

Christopher Hitchens

418f97b

"[Voltaire] theoretically prefers a republic, but he knows its flaws: it permits factions which, if they do not bring on civil war, at least destroy national unity; it is suited only to small states protected by geographic situation, and as yet unspoiled and untorn with wealth; in general "men are rarely worthy to govern themselves." Republics are transient at best; they are the first form of society, arising from the union of families; the American Indians lived in tribal republics, and Africa is full of such democracies. but differentiation of economic status puts an end to these egalitarian governments; and differentiation is the inevitable accompaniment of development."

democracy development economics egalitarianism government monarchy politics republic voltaire

Will Durant

06a12ba

? Por que morian tan jovenes?, se pregunta Stefan Zweig hablando de aquella generacion y de su lucha con el demonio. Novalis, quien, casi por su voluntad, un dia cerro los ojos como un nino y magicamente murio, decia en sus cuadernos que todos los humanos mueren maduros y en el momento adecuado, cuando han cumplido plenamente el aprendizaje que les corresponde. Ello significaria que Victor Hugo, Goethe y Voltaire que superaron los ochenta anos, no vivieron mas que keats, que a los veinticinto dejo de oir al ruisenor; ni mas que Chatterton, quien despues de crear un linaje de poetas, sus genealogias, sus obras, su correspondencia, su aparato critico, sus biografias y su hermeneutica, se extinguio como una llama en su buhardilla a la edad de diescisiete anos; ni mas que el propio Novalis, que al morir, a los veintinueve, nos revelo que lo habia vivido todo.

goethe keats muerte novalis voltaire zweig

William Ospina