The secret of being a bore is to tell everything. — Voltaire · Smartyfair

The secret of being a bore is to tell everything.

Voltaire1694–1778 · writer · 1700s FranceVoltaire was a French writer and philosopher famous for his sharp wit and his fierce defense of free speech and religious tolerance.6 quotes

Source not found yetStories1700s

In plain words

Telling absolutely everything is how you lose your listener.

Look up a word

Where these words come from

How sure this is: 60% sureLots of sources credit Voltaire with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
What turned up: Sept Discours en Vers sur l'Homme, "Sixième discours" (1738): "Le secret d'ennuyer est celui de tout dire." No named English translator located; French original + work/year confirmed.
Work: Sept Discours en Vers sur l'Homme
Occasion: 1738
Sources checked: en.wikiquote.orgChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 21 August 2026Sourced section, raw wikitext fetch — French original + citation

Nothing made from these words yet — Storyfaire is where they get made.

More from Voltaire

Common sense is not so common.

Voltaire The best is the enemy of the good.

Voltaire But let us cultivate our garden.

Voltaire All styles are good except the boring kind.

Voltaire Love truth, but pardon error.

More on stories

A single conversation with a wise man is worth a month's study of books.Chinese proverb Do not be guilty of possessing a library of learned books while lacking learning yourself.

Erasmus Fiction is Truth's elder sister.

Rudyard Kipling Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body.

Joseph Addison Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Fiction is to the grown man what play is to the child; it is there that he changes the atmosphere and tenor of his life.

Robert Louis Stevenson