| John Bartlett (18201905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919. |
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| Page 987 |
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| | | François Marie Arouet de Voltaire. (16941778) (continued) |
| | | 9591 | | History is little else than a picture of human crimes and misfortunes. 1 |
| LIngénu. Chap. x. (1767.) |
| 9592 | The first who was king was a fortunate soldier: Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors. 2 |
| Merope. Act i. Sc. 3. |
| 9593 | | In the best of possible worlds the château of monseigneur the baron was the most beautiful of châteaux, and madame the best of possible baronesses. |
| Candide. Chap. i. |
| 9594 | | In this country [England] it is well to kill from time to time an admiral to encourage the others. |
| Candide. Chap. xxiii. |
| 9595 | | The superfluous, a very necessary thing. |
| Le Mondain. Line 21. |
| 9596 | | Crush the infamous thing. |
| Letter to dAlembert, June 23, 1760. |
| 9597 | | There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times. |
| Letter to Cardinal de Bernis, April 23, 1761. |
| 9598 | | The proper mean. 3 |
| Letter to Count dArgental, Nov. 28, 1765. |
| 9599 | | It is said that God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions. 4 |
| Letter to M. le Riche, Feb. 6, 1770. |
| 9600 | | Love truth, but pardon error. |
| Discours sur lHomme. Discours 3. |
| | | Marie de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise Du Deffand. (16971780) |
| | | 9601 | | He [Voltaire] has invented history. 5 |
| 9602 | | It is only the first step which costs. 6 |
| In reply to the Cardinal de Polignac. |
| | Note 1. See Gibbon, Quotation 1. [back] | Note 2. See Scott, Quotation 72.
Borrowed from Lefranc de Pompignans Didon. [back] | Note 3. See Cowper, Quotation 112. [back] | Note 4. See Gibbon, Quotation 6.
Bussy Rabutin: Lettres, iv. 91. Sévigne: Lettre à sa Fille, p. 202. Tacitus: Historia, iv. 17. Terence: Phormio, i. 4. 26. [back] | Note 5. Fournier: LEsprit dans lHistoire, p. 191. [back] | Note 6. Voltaire writes to Madame du Deffand, January, 1764, that one of her bon-mots is quoted in the notes of La Pucelle, canto 1: Il ny a que le premier pas qui coûte. [back] |
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