Virtue is debased by self-justification.
— Voltaire
Use itGS4: on rationalising misconduct; virtue loses worth when one keeps justifying oneself.
Thinker · 37 quotes
Voltaire quotes for UPSC
37 sourced quotes by Voltaire on religion, tolerance & secularism, equality & social justice, media, speech & public opinion, ethics & morality, justice & rule of law, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.
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Men use thought only to justify their wrongdoings, and speech only to conceal their thoughts.
— Voltaire
Use itGS4: on rationalisation; people misuse reason to justify wrongdoing.
Love truth, but pardon error.
— Voltaire
Use itGS4: on tolerance; uphold truth firmly yet forgive human error.
It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.
— Voltaire
Use itGS4: on whistleblowing; speaking truth against establishment carries risk.
A minister of state is excusable for the harm he does when the helm of government has forced his hand in a storm; but in the calm he is guilty of all the good he does not do.
— Voltaire
Use itGS4: on sins of omission; administrators are accountable for good left undone.
It is better to risk sparing a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one.
— Voltaire
Use itGS2: on presumption of innocence and due process in criminal justice.
Let the punishments of criminals be useful. A hanged man is good for nothing; a man condemned to public works still serves the country, and is a living lesson.
— Voltaire
Use itGS2: on reformative justice and capital punishment; punishment should serve society.
Man is free at the instant he wants to be.
— Voltaire
Use itEssay on freedom; liberty begins with the will to be free.
It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.
— Voltaire
Use itGS1: on social reform; hardest to free people from customs they cherish.
All mortals are equal; it is not their birth, But virtue itself that makes the difference.
— Voltaire
Use itGS1/GS4: against caste and birth-based hierarchy; merit and virtue distinguish people.
The first who was king was a fortunate soldier: Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
— Voltaire
Use itEssay on meritocracy; service to the nation matters, not lineage.
Books, like conversation, rarely give us any precise ideas: nothing is so common as to read and converse unprofitably. We must here repeat what Locke has so strongly urged—Define your terms.
— Voltaire"Abuse of Words" (1764)
Use itEssay/answer writing: define key terms first for clarity.
When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.
— Voltaire
Use itEssay on economic interests transcending identity; commerce unites across faiths.
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
— Voltaire
Use itEssay on war ethics; mass killing is glorified while individual murder is punished.
Money is always to be found when men are to be sent to the frontiers to be destroyed: when the object is to preserve them, it is no longer so.
— Voltaire
Use itEssay on misplaced priorities; funds flow readily for war but not for saving lives.
It is sad that often, to be a good patriot, one must be the enemy of the rest of mankind.
— Voltaire
Use itEssay on nationalism vs humanism; patriotism should not mean hostility to others.
A witty saying proves nothing.
— Voltaire
Use itInterview/Essay: clever rhetoric is not evidence; argue with facts.
We should be considerate to the living; to the dead we owe only the truth.
— Voltaire
Use itGS1/Essay: on writing history honestly; owe truth to the past, not flattery.
Clever tyrants are never punished.
— Voltaire
Use itGS4: on accountability of the powerful; clever wrongdoers escape without strong institutions.
Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.
— Voltaire
Use itEssay on communalism; reason and philosophy douse the fires of superstition.
Morality is everywhere the same for all men, therefore it comes from God; sects differ, therefore they are the work of men.
— Voltaire
Use itEssay on secular ethics; morality is universal while sectarian differences are man-made.
Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy, the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.
— Voltaire
Use itEssay on scientific temper; superstition distorts religion as astrology distorts astronomy.
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly — that is the first law of nature.
— Voltaire
Use itGS4/Essay on tolerance; shared human frailty is the ground for mutual forgiveness.
If there were only one religion in England there would be danger of despotism, if there were two they would cut each other's throats, but there are thirty, and they live in peace and happiness.
— VoltaireLetters on England, letter 6, "On the Presbyterians", trans. Leonard Tancock (Penguin Books, 1980) p. 41, published first in English in 1733
Use itEssay on pluralism; diversity of faiths can safeguard against despotism and conflict.
The institution of religion exists only to keep mankind in order, and to make men merit the goodness of God by their virtue. Everything in a religion which does not tend towards this goal must be considered foreign or dangerous.
— Voltaire"The Ecclesiastical Ministry"
Use itEssay on religion's role; any practice not promoting virtue is suspect.
One always speaks badly when one has nothing to say.
— Voltaire
Use itInterview: speak only with substance; empty talk weakens communication.
When we hear news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.
— Voltaire
Use itGS3/GS2: on fake news; verify information before believing or sharing.
Opinions have caused more ills than the plague or earthquakes on this little globe of ours.
— Voltaire
Use itEssay on ideology and conflict; fanatic opinions do more harm than disasters.
Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
— Voltaire
Use itEssay on history; critique of history as a record of wars and suffering.
I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges, — astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis, etc.
— Voltaire
Use itGS1/Essay on India's knowledge heritage; Voltaire credited the Ganges for astronomy and ideas.
The best is the enemy of the good.
— Voltaire
Use itGS2/Life: perfectionism delays delivery; pragmatic good policy beats waiting for the ideal.
Our labour preserves us from three great evils -- weariness, vice, and want.
— VoltaireCandide (1759)
Use itEssay on dignity of labour; work guards against boredom, vice and poverty.
Let us cultivate our garden.
— VoltaireCandide (1759)
Use itLife/Essay conclusion: focus on tending one's own duties and work.
We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one.
— Voltaire
Use itEssay on happiness; people seek it everywhere without knowing where it lies.
Use, do not abuse; as the wise man commands. I flee Epictetus and Petronius alike. Neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.
— Voltaire
Use itGS4/Life: on moderation; neither abstinence nor excess yields happiness.
Virtuous men alone possess friends.
— Voltaire
Use itLife/GS4: lasting friendship rests on virtue and trust.
The man, who in a fit of melancholy, kills himself today, would have wished to live had he waited a week.
— Voltaire
Use itGS2/Essay on mental health and suicide prevention; despair is temporary, so timely support matters.