“The necessity of saying something, the perplexity of having nothing to say, and a desire of being witty, are three circumstances which alone are capable of making even the greatest writer ridiculous. ”
― Voltaire, quote from Letters on England
“Human reason is so little able, merely by its own strength, to demonstrate the immortality of the soul, that it was absolutely necessary religion should reveal it to us. It is of advantage to society in general, that mankind should believe the soul to be immortal; faith commands us to do this; nothing more is required, and the matter is cleared up at once. ”
― Voltaire, quote from Letters on England
“this thought has met with the fate of many other useful projects, of being applauded and neglected.”
― Voltaire, quote from Letters on England
“The very essence of things is totally changed. You neither are agreed upon the definition of the soul nor on that of matter. Descartes, as I observed in my last, maintains that the soul is the same thing with thought, and Mr. Locke has given a pretty good proof of the contrary. Descartes asserts farther, that extension alone constitutes matter, but Sir Isaac adds solidity to it. How furiously contradictory are these opinions! Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites (Virgil).”
― Voltaire, quote from Letters on England
“Descartes gave sight to the blind. These saw the errors of antiquity and of the sciences. The path he struck out is since become boundless [....] In fathoming this abyss no bottom has been found. We are now to examine what discoveries Sir Isaac Newton has made in it.”
― Voltaire, quote from Letters on England
“He was natural and sublime, but had not so much as a single spark of good taste, or knew one rule of the drama. ”
― Voltaire, quote from Letters on England
“How many things here do I not want (Voltaire when in London.”
― Voltaire, quote from Letters on England
“Les sorcières ont cessé d'exister quand nous avons cessé de les brûler.”
― Voltaire, quote from Letters on England
Voltaire
Born place: in Paris, France
Born date November 21, 1694
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“IT is not impossible that among the English readers of this book there may be one who in 1915 and 1916 was in one of those trenches that were woven like a web among the ruins of Monchy-au-Bois. In that case he had opposite him at that time the 73rd Hanoverian Fusiliers, who wear as their distinctive badge a brassard with ' Gibraltar ' inscribed on it in gold, in memory of the defence of that fortress under General Elliot; for this, besides Waterloo, has its place in the regiment's history.
At the time I refer to I was a nineteen-year-old lieutenant in command of a platoon, and my part of the line was easily recognizable from the English side by a row of tall shell-stripped trees that rose from the ruins of Monchy. My left flank was bounded by the sunken road leading to Berles-au-Bois, which was in the hands of the English ; my right was marked by a sap running out from our lines, one that helped us many a time to make our presence felt by means of bombs and rifle-grenades.
I daresay this reader remembers, too, the white tom-cat, lamed in one foot by a stray bullet, who had his headquarters in No-man's-land. He used often to pay me a visit at night in my dugout. This creature, the sole living being that was on visiting terms with both sides, always made on me an impression of extreme mystery. This charm of mystery which lay over all that belonged to the other side, to that danger zone full of unseen figures, is one of the strongest impressions that the war has left with me. At that time, before the battle of the Somme, which opened a new chapter in the history of the war, the struggle had not taken on that grim and mathematical aspect which cast over its landscapes a deeper and deeper gloom. There was more rest for the soldier than in the later years when he was thrown into one murderous battle after another ; and so it is that many of those days come back to my memory now with a light on them that is almost peaceful.”
― Ernst Jünger, quote from Storm of Steel
“The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four, and sometimes you get twenty-two.”
― Dashiell Hammett, quote from The Thin Man
“Un día, al ensayar una escena de El jardín de los cerezos, su maestro de actuación, Michael Chekhov, le preguntó: “¿Pensabas en sexo mientras hicimos esta escena?”. Ella contestó que no, y él continuó: “En toda la escena no dejé de recibir vibraciones sexuales de ti. Como si fueras una mujer en las garras de la pasión. […] Ahora entiendo tu problema con tu estudio, Marilyn. Eres una mujer que emite vibraciones sexuales, hagas o pienses lo que sea.”
― Robert Greene, quote from The Art of Seduction
“He pulled her close. “Someday, I will win your trust, and you will be the one to set me free. I know it.”
“I won’t.” Bertie recoiled from both him and the assertion she would do such a thing. “Not ever.”
Ariel made no move to touch her again, though his words were a caress. “Don’t make promises you won’t be able to keep.”
― Lisa Mantchev, quote from Eyes Like Stars
“He only invited me because of you and Chase.'
'Right,' she said, following me inside. 'He's never shown the slightest interest in you before. I mean, he's never stared at you like you're the only person in the room when we're all together. Or sulked around for days because you turned him down for a dance. Or touched the sleeve of your sweater when he thinks no one's looking-'
'He's never done any of that,' I said. Then, less confidently, 'Has he?”
― Claire LaZebnik, quote from Epic Fail
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