Quotes from Letters on England

Voltaire ·  102 pages

Rating: (1.6K votes)


“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


About the author

Voltaire
Born place: in Paris, France
Born date November 21, 1694
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“In the kitchen he ate a pear. It occurred to him that, though he had eaten hundreds of pears in the past, if not thousands, this pear was different from every single one he had ever eaten, wholly unique, and, in fact, as he ate it, he was opening parts of the pear that had never been experienced by anyone, human or animal. When his maxillary incisors pierced the skin, which first protected the fruit as it had against the rain and sun and then yielded to the invasion, he was oxygenating particles that had never even been open to oxygen. The wet fruit and seeds had existed in darkness for their entire lives until he tore them out with his teeth.”
― Amelia Gray, quote from Threats


“O impacto do bullying homofóbico é enorme. Pesquisas realizadas pela Stonewall, uma instituição de caridade britânica em prol dos direitos de pessoas gay, descobriram que 50% dos jovens estudantes LGB* já tinham cabulado aula, enquanto 70% disseram que o bullying tinha afetado seu desempenho na escola. Bom,”
― James Dawson, quote from This Book is Gay


“...Jesus responds to almost every question he's asked with...a question.
"What do you think? How do you read it?" he asks, again and again and again.”
― Rob Bell, quote from Love Wins Low Price CD: Love Wins Low Price CD


“We
are the only
people I have ever
known
that can
make love
from across
a
crowded
room.”
― Tyler Knott Gregson, quote from Chasers of the Light: Poems from the Typewriter Series


“Parenting is something that happens mostly while you’re thinking of something else.”
― Barbara Kingsolver, quote from Homeland and Other Stories


Interesting books

A Tale for the Time Being
(64.7K)
A Tale for the Time...
by Ruth Ozeki
Bloody Bones
(63.4K)
Bloody Bones
by Laurell K. Hamilton
Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
(25.5K)
Princess: A True Sto...
by Jean Sasson
If You Could See Me Now
(34.2K)
If You Could See Me...
by Cecelia Ahern
The Chrysalids
(35.3K)
The Chrysalids
by John Wyndham
Eternal Kiss of Darkness
(36.1K)
Eternal Kiss of Dark...
by Jeaniene Frost

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.