If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.

Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer.

Voltaire

More information about this quote

Topic

Existence of God God

Author

Voltaire

Source

Letter to the Author of The Three Imposters

Medium

Letter

Language

French

Time

1768 1760s 18th century

Occupation

Philosopher Writer

From

France Europe

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Voltaire. Épître à l'Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs [Letter to the author of The Three Impostors]. 10 Nov. 1770.

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A quote by Voltaire about existence of god: “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Voltaire

I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.

Voltaire

More information about this quote
Topic
Approaching death

Author

Voltaire
Language
French
Time
1778 1770s 18th century
Authentication Score 1
Citation

Voltaire. Note to his secretary, Jean-Louis Wagniere. 28 Feb. 1778.

Another quote from the 1760s

The king, moreover, is not only incapable of doing wrong, but even of thinking wrong: he can never mean to do an improper thing: in him is no folly or weakness.

William Blackstone

Commentaries on the Laws of England

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Read Commentaries on the Laws of England, Book I at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Monarchy Legal theory

Author

William Blackstone
Source
Commentaries on the Laws of England
Medium
Treatise
Genre
Legal writing
Language
English
Time
1765 1760s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Law of England: Book the First. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1765, ch. 7.

Current Citation

Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England: Book I Of the Rights of Persons, edited by David Lemmings. Oxford University Press, 2016, ch. 7.

Another quote about God

"Where is God gone?" he called out. "I mean to tell you! We have killed him,—you and I! We are all his murderers!

Friedrich Nietzsche

The Gay Science

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More information about this quote
Topic
Death of God Existence of God God Decline of religion

Author

Friedrich Nietzsche
Source
The Parable of the Madman The Gay Science
Genre
Philosophical literature
Language
German
Time
1882 1880s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Die frohliche Wissenschaft [The Gay Science]. Chemnitz: Ernst Schmeitzner, 1882, bk. 3, no. 125.

Current Citation

Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Joyous Science, translated by R. Kevin Hill. Penguin Classics, 2019, bk. 3, no. 125.

Another quote originally in French

Once I had recognized the taste of the crumb of madeleine soaked in her decoction of lime flowers which my aunt used to give me... Immediately the old gray house upon the street, where her room was, rose up like the scenery of a theater.

Marcel Proust

In Search of Lost Time

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More information about this quote
Topic
Memory

Author

Marcel Proust
Source
Swann's Way In Search of Lost Time
Medium
Novel
Genre
Modernist literature
Language
French
Time
1913 1910s 20th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Proust, Marcel. Du côté de chez Swann [The Way by Swann's]. Paris: Grasset, 1913.

Current Citation

Proust, Marcel. Swann's Way, edited and translated by Lydia Davis. Penguin Classics, 2004.