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

“Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.”
― Stephen R. Covey, quote from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change


“I sometimes have the feeling you've been here a long time, more than one lifetime, and that you've dwelt in private places none of the rest of us has even dreamed about.”
― Robert James Waller, quote from The Bridges of Madison County


“The only people Ryan needed to impress were those who knew him; he cared little for the rest.”
― Tom Clancy, quote from The Hunt for Red October


“Motherf**ker. Bastard ass motherf**ker. C**ks**king rat-bitch bastard motherf**ker!” – Blay”
― J.R. Ward, quote from Lover Mine


“But in his experience it was only a matter of time before the normal balance of the universe restored itself and started doing the usual terrible things to him.”
― Terry Pratchett, quote from The Color of Magic


Interesting books

Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
(1.6K)
Black Lamb and Grey...
by Rebecca West
The Bone Clocks
(70.4K)
The Bone Clocks
by David Mitchell
Libra
(12.1K)
Libra
by Don DeLillo
Last Night I Sang to the Monster
(4.8K)
Last Night I Sang to...
by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
True Colors
(36.5K)
True Colors
by Kristin Hannah
The Apothecary's Daughter
(20.7K)
The Apothecary's Dau...
by Julie Klassen

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.