To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.
Common sense is not so common.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.
“It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.”
“The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.”
“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.”
“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
“The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.”
“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.”
“Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.”
“Prejudices are what fools use for reason.”
“In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.”
“To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.”
– Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet) 1694-1778