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VOLTAIRE TRANSLATIONS
These are my modern English translations of Voltaire, one of the world's most prolific, best and most influential writers.
Voltaire, born François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), was an amazingly prolific
writer who produced works in nearly every literary genre, including poems,
plays, novels and novellas, satires, parodies, essays, histories, Bible
criticism, and even early science fiction!
Les Vous et Les Tu (“You, then and now”)
by Voltaire
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Phyllis, whatever became of those days
We spent riding in your carriage,
Lacking both lackeys and trappings,
Accompanied only by your graceful charms
And content with a humble supper
Which you (of course) transformed into ambrosia …
Days when you abandoned yourself in your folly
To the happily deceived lover
Who so earnestly pledged you his life?
Heaven had bequeathed you, then,
In lieu of prestige and riches,
The enchanting enticements of youth:
A tender heart, an adventurous mind,
An alabaster breast and exquisite eyes.
Well, with so many luring allurements,
Ah! what girl would have not been mischievous?
And so you were, graceful creature.
And thus (and may Love forgive me!)
You know I desired you all the more.
Ah, Madame! How your life,
So filled with honors today,
Differs from those lost enchantments!
This hulking guardian with the powdered hair
Who lies incessantly at your door,
Phyllis, is the very avatar of Time:
See how he dismisses the escorts
Of tender Love and Laughter;
Those orphans no longer dare show their faces
Beneath your magnificent paneled ceilings.
Alas! in happier days I saw them
Enter your home through a glassless window
To frolic in your hovel.
No, Madame, all these carpets
Spun at the Savonnerie
And so elegantly loomed by the Persians;
And all your golden jewelry;
And all this expensive porcelain
Germain engraved with his divine hand;
And all these cabinets in which Martin
Surpassed the art of China;
And all your white vases,
Such fragile Japanese wonders!;
And the twin chandeliers of diamonds
Dangling from your ears;
And your costly chokers and necklaces;
And all this spellbinding pomp;
Are not worth a single kiss
You blessed me with when you were young.
TRANSLATIONS OF VOLTAIRE EPIGRAMS AND QUOTES
Once fanaticism has gangrened brains
the incurable malady invariably remains.
—Voltaire, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Love is a canvas created by nature
and completed by imagination.
—Voltaire, loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
If God did not create us, it was necessary for us to create him.
—Voltaire, loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
My only prayer to God was, “Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.” And he granted
it.
—Voltaire, loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
God is a jester performing for an audience too frightened to laugh.
—Voltaire, loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
Doubt is an undesirable condition, but preferable to ludicrous certainty.
—Voltaire, loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
Faith is believing what reason cannot countenance.
—Voltaire, loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
Life is a shipwreck, yet we must sing in the lifeboats.
—Voltaire, loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
Every man is a product of his age and few are able to rise above its
misconceptions.
—Voltaire, loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
Judge a man by his doubts rather than his certainties.
—Voltaire, loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
The secret of being a bore is to reveal everything.
—Voltaire, loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
Common sense is uncommon.
—Voltaire, loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
Once fanaticism has gangrened brains the malady is usually incurable.
—Voltaire, loose translation/interpretation by
Michael R. Burch
The following are links to other translations by Michael R. Burch:
Michael R. Burch Main Translation Page & Index:
The Best Poetry Translations of Michael R. Burch
The Best Poetry Translations of Michael R. Burch (sans links)
Translation Pages by Language:
English Translations of Anglo-Saxon Poems by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of Chinese Poets by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of Female Chinese Poets
English Translations of French Poets by Michael R. Burch
Germane Germans: English Translations by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of German Poets by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of Japanese Poets by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of Japanese Zen Death Poems
English Translations of Ancient Mayan Love Poems
English Translations of Native American Poems, Proverbs and Blessings
English Translations of Roman, Latin and Italian Poets by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of Urdu Poets by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of Uyghur Poets by Michael R. Burch
Related Pages in Roughly Chronological Order:
Ancient Egyptian Harper's Songs
Ancient Japanese Waka and Haiku
Ancient Greek Epigrams and Epitaphs
Sappho of Lesbos Shorter Poems and Fragments
Sappho of Lesbos Longer Poems
Antipater of Sidon
Martial Translations
Catullus Translations
Song of Amergin
Caedmon's Hymn
Bede's Death Song
Deor's Lament
Wulf and Eadwacer
The Wife's Lament
The Ruin
The Seafarer
The Rhyming Poem
Anglo-Saxon Poems
Anglo-Saxon Riddles and Kennings
Middle English Poems
How Long the Night
Ballads
Sumer is Icumen in
Fowles in the Frith
Ich am of Irlaunde
Dante Translations by Michael R. Burch
Geoffrey Chaucer
Charles d'Orleans
Tom O'Bedlam's Song
Now Goeth Sun Under Wood
Pity Mary
Sweet Rose of Virtue
Lament for the Makaris
Adam Lay Ybounden
This World's Joy
Medieval Poetry Translations (476-1486)
MICHELANGELO (1475-1564)
Basho (1644-1694)
Voltaire (1694-1778)
Yosa Buson (1716-1764)
Tegner's Drapa (1820)
Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)
Paul Verlaine (1844-1896)
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
Allama Iqbal (1877-1938)
Miklós Radnóti
Bertolt Brecht
Ber Horvitz
Paul Celan
Primo Levi
Poetry by Michael R. Burch
Michael R. Burch Free Verse
My Influences by Michael R. Burch
Michael R. Burch Early Poems Timeline
Bemused by Muses
Poems for Poets
Timeline of Rhyme
Best Poetry Translations sans links
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