Voltaire: A Sketch of his Life and Works Part 8

The Bible

If there are many difficulties we cannot solve, mysteries we cannot comprehend, adventures which we cannot credit, prodigies which display the credulity of the human mind, and contradictions which it is impossible to reconcile, it is in order to exercise our faith and to-humiliate our reason.-_Dict. Phil._ (Art. "Contradictions").

Transubstantiation

Julius II. makes and eats G.o.d; but with armor on his back and helmet on his head he wades in blood and carnage. Leo X. holds G.o.d in his body, his mistresses in his arms, and the money extorted by the sale of indulgences in his coffers, and those of his sister.-_Dict. Phil._ (Art.

"Eucharist").

Dreams and Ghosts

Have you not found, like me, that they are the origin of the opinion so generally diffused throughout antiquity touching spectres and manes? A man deeply afflicted at the death of his wife, or his son, sees them in his sleep; they have the same characteristics; he speaks to them, they reply; they have certainly appeared to him. Other men have had similar dreams. It is impossible, then, to doubt that the dead return; but it is certain at the same time that these dead-whether buried or reduced to ashes, or lost at sea-could not reappear in their bodies. It is, then, their soul that has been seen. This soul must be extended, light, impalpable, since in speaking with it we cannot embrace it. _Effugit imago per levibus vet.i.tis_ (Virgil). It is moulded, designed upon the body which it habited, since it perfectly resembles it. It is given the name of shade or manes, and from all this a confused idea remains in the head, which perpetuates itself all the better because n.o.body understands it.-_Dict. Phil._ (Art. "Somnambulists and Dreams" ).

Mortifying the Flesh

Had vanity never any share in the public mortifications which attended the eyes of the mult.i.tude? "I scourge myself, but 'tis to expiate your faults; I go stark naked, but 'tis to reproach the luxury of your garments; I feed on herbs and snails to correct your vice of gluttony; I put an iron ring on my body to make you blush at your lewdness.

Reverence me as a man cherished by the G.o.ds, who can draw down their favors on you. When accustomed to reverence, it will not be hard to obey me; I become your master in the name of the G.o.ds; and if you transgress my will in the least particular, I will have you impaled to appease the wrath of heaven." If the first fakirs did not use these words, they probably had them engraven at the bottom of their hearts.-_Dict. Phil._ (Art. "Austerities").

Heaven

_Kon._: What is meant by "the heaven and the earth: mount up to heaven, be worthy of heaven"?

_Cu Su._: 'Tis but stupidity, there is no heaven; each planet is surrounded by its atmosphere, and rolls in s.p.a.ce around its sun. Each sun is the centre of several planets which travel continually around it.

There is no up nor down, ascension nor descent. You perceive that if the inhabitants of the moon said that some one ascended to the earth, that one must render himself worthy of earth, he would talk nonsense. We do so likewise when we say we must be worthy of heaven; it is as if we said we must be worthy of air, worthy of the constellation of the Dragon, worthy of s.p.a.ce.-_Catechisme chinois._

Magic

All the fathers of the Church, without exception, believed in the power of magic. The Church always condemned magic, but she always believed it; she excommunicated sorcerers, not as deluded madmen, but as men who really had intercourse with devils.-_Dict. Phil._ (Art. "Superst.i.tion").

DETACHED THOUGHTS

There are vices which it is better to ignore than to punish.

One should not p.r.o.nounce a word in public which an honest woman cannot repeat.

I know no great men but those who have rendered great services to humanity.

Honor has ever achieved greater things than interest.

Occupation and work are the only resources against misfortune.

My maxim is to fulfil all my duties to-day, because I am not sure of living to-morrow.

Most men die before having lived.

It is necessary to combat nature and fortune till the last moment, and to never despair till one is dead.

Work without disputing; it is the only way to render life supportable.

Pa.s.sions are the winds that swell the sails of the ship. It is true, they sometimes sink her, but without them she could not sail at all. The bile makes us sick and choleric; but without the bile we could not live.

Everything in this world is dangerous, and yet everything in it is necessary.

We should introduce into our existence all imaginable modes, and open every door of the minds to all kinds of knowledge, and all sorts of feelings. So long as it does not all go in pell-mell, there is room enough for all.

It is the part of a man like you [Vauvenargues] to have preferences, but no exclusions.

The unwise value every word in an author of repute.

Opinion governs the world, and philosophers in the long run govern opinion.

We enjoin mankind to conquer their pa.s.sions. Make the experiment of only depriving a man, in the habit of taking it, of his pinch of snuff.

Do we not nearly all resemble the aged General of ninety years, who, seeing some young fellows larking with the girls, said to them angrily: "Gentlemen, is that the example which I give you?"

Pa.s.sions are diseases. To cure a man of a criminal intention, we should give him not counsel, but a dose of physic.

Women are like windmills, fixed while they revolve.

I fear lest marriage may not rather be one of the seven deadly sins than one of the seven sacraments.

Divorce is probably of about the same date as marriage.