OK I want to stimulate some thinking. I'm going to list a bunch of quotes attributed to Voltaire - someone I had never thought to read. But coming across a couple of quotes of his I thought they were rather profound.
So here is the deal. I will list the quotes. You pick your favorite and tell us why.
Voltaire Quotes
Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel. Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities. Clever tyrants are never punished. Common sense is not so common.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game. Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do. Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well. He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad. History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes. I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom. I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it. It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong. It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere. Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.
Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us. Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.
No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible. Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense. Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes. Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable. Tears are the silent language of grief. The multitude of books is making us ignorant. The safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death. The secret of being a bore... is to tell everything. The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it. The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reason. Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. To the wicked, everything serves as pretext. We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
Woe to the makers of literal translations, who by rendering every word weaken the meaning! It is indeed by so doing that we can say the letter kills and the spirit gives life.