Collection: Voltaire Prints

Voltaire (1694–1778) was the sharpest pen of the French Enlightenment: playwright, historian, pamphleteer, and the author of Candide. He was imprisoned in the Bastille twice and still managed to be funny about it. His lines are short, dry and quotable, which is why they survive on walls.

The prints carry the French original only, and the English translation is on the product page; the eight lines best known in English appear that way. Voltaire belongs in a kitchen or a study, anywhere irony is welcome. The garden line from Candide is a favourite for people who grow things.

Three to start with

• Il faut cultiver notre jardin (We must cultivate our garden)
• Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (The best is the enemy of the good)
• Le doute n'est pas une condition agréable, mais la certitude est absurde (Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd)

Questions people ask

Did Voltaire actually write these? Most are traced to a named work or letter and marked high confidence. The famous "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" is not his, and lines of that kind are marked medium or disputed on the product page rather than quietly included.

What arrives after I pay? A print-ready PDF with embedded vector type, ready for a home printer or a print shop.

Which sizes? Eight, from 5 x 7 inches to 24 x 36 inches, plus A4.