Voltaire was not the first or last man to convert a prison into a hall of fame. A prison is confining to the body, but whether it affects the mind, depends entirely upon the mind. It was while in prison that he changed his name from the one his father gave him - Arouet - to the one he has made famous throughout all time - Voltaire. He said, 'I was very unlucky under my first name. I want to see if this one will succeed any better.'

Whatever else he was during his life, he was never dull, and the world forgives almost anything but stupidity.

Pensions are the favors of the powerful, and dangerous to any great intellect. It is only here and there down throughout the ages that a Voltaire is born who d…

The usual is always mediocre. When nature takes it into her head to make a man, she fits him with her own equipment and educates him in her own school.

Please don't make me a joke. End the interview with what I believe. I don't mind making jokes, but I don't want to look like one... I want to be an artist, an …

I hated it. Everybody'd say, 'Hey, mama, what's happening?' Then came the Mamas and Papas and I was stuck with it. And now people call me Mama Cass because of …

I'm not Hans Christian Andersen. Nobody's gonna make a statue in the park with a lot of scrambling kids climbing up me. I won't have it, okay?