Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-04-28
UnpubIIshed thoughts Of VoItnire.

HtItflt. Publisher and Proprietor.
thoughts of vOItRire.
ArsenO Houssaye's Paris letter to the New
York Tribune. ielaf
Two years hence we are promised
a grand festival in honor of Vol
taire, who died in 177S. Of him
one may say that the day of his
death was the first of his immor-
tality; he still remains the most
living mind Of our country. Vol
taire bequeathed to France the rev.
olution of 1889; to Europe, the
hatred of darkness; to humanity,
the evangel Of good; to the world,
the current coin of intelligence.
All philosophers, from Plato to
Descartes, have built fairy castles
and fought with chimeras. Vol
taire built the temple of the hui
man mind, and fought with mon
sters aud superstitions." It has
been said Of him that he should
have died without making a will,
as it was saidof Jean Jacques Rous.
seau that he should have died with
out making a confession Voltaire,
indeed, wrote his will under the
dictation of his niece, on the last
day Of his life, and he forgot the
poor because Madame Denis was
Unsuitable. But was this really the
will of Voltaire? No; the legacy
of a man of genius is his work. |
A piece of good fortune has
placed in my hands the last manu-
scripts of Voltaire-thoughts writ
ten from day to day, and often du
ring the small hours of the nigh
the last malice of that unrepent
ing demon, the last truths faller
from that great soul. | haV
looked through all the pages O
lYoltaire without finding thes,
thoughts, except a few in his Phil
osophical Dictionary. / give then
in the admirable disorder in Whicl
found them, as the engrayer VIII
translates the sketch Of a maste-
repeats the faults of the origina
design. We recognize in them tn,
universal Voltaire-religion, love
philosophy, literature, fine arts
history; all the capitals and prov
inces of that tyrannical monarch
of the human mind.
GA people must not be forced
1t is a river which cuts its owl
channel, and you cannot make !
change its course"
Why does one always say No.
DieuP and 'NOtre DameT"
"Even the most sublime autho
should seek counsel, Moses, j
spite Of his cloud and pillar Of firt
asked his way of Jethro"
Inscription for print reprE
Senting beggsrs; Rex fecit."
"T6e poets, who hRvo invente
everything except poetry, invente
hell, and were then the first to jet
at it." j!
ave must have a religion witt
out believing in priests, just as v
must observe regimen withot
believing in physicians"
"There is never a miSer who dol
not intend to make a handson
expenditure, some day deaf
comes, and the intention is carrie
! out by his heir. This is the histol
of more than one king Of my a
quaintance."
"Many savans are like those sta
: near the pole, which always mo-
and never advance"
"We treat men like the lette
b we get; we read them once wi
eagerness, and do not reread then
"Who said that words are Il
counters Of sages and the coin
= foolsH"
"The bore is a torpedo that /
= numbs, and the imaginative M
! is flame which spreads"
'oThe bed discovers all secre
nox nocti indicat scientiam,"
"Cromwell said that one ney
goes so far as when one does n
/, know whither he is going.p
Il r'When Roland regained his r(
: son, he accomplished scarcely on
Y lthing more; a fine lesson for closi
II ones life in peace"
columbus OWNED and disco
+, cred America; a merchant gave t
: country his name. A fine exa
pie Of the quid pro quos of glor.
n. "All ages resemble each other
o the different ages Of man. Tn,
~ are ages Of health and ages Of {
| Ia ~ m ID UI HfHH. Un.i.