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Candide quotes

Voltaire

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“Secret griefs are more cruel than public calamities.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“Indeed, the law of nature teaches us to kill our neighbour, and such is the practice all over the world.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“God has punished the knave, and the devil has drowned the rest.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“our labour preserves us from three great evils—weariness, vice, and want.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“Fools admire everything in an author of reputation. For my part, I read only to please myself.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“The Dutch fetiches, who have converted me, declare every Sunday that we are all of us children of Adam—blacks as well as whites. I am not a genealogist, but if these preachers tell truth, we are all second cousins.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“Imagine all contradictions, all possible incompatibilities—you will find them in the government, in the law-courts, in the churches, in the public shows of this droll nation.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“We are at the end of all our troubles, and at the beginning of happiness.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“Everywhere the weak execrate the powerful, before whom they cringe; and the powerful beat them like sheep whose wool and flesh they sell.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“This discourse gave rise to new reflections, and Martin especially concluded that man was born to live either in a state of distracting inquietude or of lethargic disgust.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“Pangloss most cruelly deceived me when he said that everything in the world is for the best.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“What! have you no monks who teach, who dispute, who govern, who cabal, and who burn people that are not of their opinion?” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“Even in those cities which seem to enjoy peace, and where the arts flourish, the inhabitants are devoured by more envy, care, and uneasiness than are experienced by a besieged town.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“I am the best-natured creature in the world, and yet I have already killed three men, and of these three two were priests.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“I am so satiated with the great number of detestable books with which we are inundated that I am reduced to punting at faro.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“When his highness sends a ship to Egypt, does he trouble his head whether the mice on board are at their ease or not?” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“Observe, that the nose has been formed to bear spectacles—thus we have spectacles.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“it is the madness of maintaining that everything is right when it is wrong.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“My friend, you see how perishable are the riches of this world; there is nothing solid but virtue, and the happiness of seeing Cunegonde once more.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

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happiness care world contradiction madness life God grief killing reading virtue family guilt evil trouble secret weakness punishment power vice

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Voltaire quotes