Voltaire
VOLTAIRE  Macroknow Library
   

   
Philosophical Dictionary.

"Equality. What does a dog owe to a dog, and a horse to a horse? Nothing, no animal depends on his like; but man having received the ray of divinity called reason, what is the result? Slavery throughout almost the whole world."1a PLATO ROUSSEAU

"Hell. As soon as men lived in society they must have noticed that some guilty men eluded the severity of the law."1b

"War. . . . [A]rtificial religion encourages all the cruelties done in association, conspiracies, seditions, robbery, ambushes, attacks on towns, pillages, murders. Each one marches gaily off to crime under the banner of his saint."1c

"On freewill. A: Your will is not free, but your actions are. You are free to act when you have the power to act."1d

"On laws. I was told that there are laws among thieves, and also in war."1e

"Necessary. 'Beware of all the inventions of charlatans . . . and believe that two and two make four."1f ARISTOTLE DESCARTES PASCAL BERKELEY JAMES SANTAYANA RUSSELL POPPER ORWELL DRUCKER PENROSE

"Tyranny. The sovereign who knows no laws but his own whim, who seizes the property of his subjects, and who then enlist them to seize that of his neighbours is called a tyrant."1g


     
   

1 Voltaire (1694-1778). Philosophical Dictionary (1764). Edited and translated by Theodore Besterman, 1972. London, England: Penguin Books Ltd.
a Egalite: Equality, at 181.
b Enfer: Hell, at 184.
c Guerre: War, at 233.
d de la Liberte: On freewill, at 278.
e des Lois: On laws, at 285.
f Necessaire: Necessary, at 325.
g Tyrannie: Tyranny, at 398.