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Voltaire quotes

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“It is more likely . . . mankind have a little corrupted nature, for they were not born wolves, and they have become wolves; God has given them neither cannon of four-and-twenty pounders, nor bayonets” Voltaire, Candide
“Come! your presence will either give me life or kill me with pleasure.” Voltaire, Candide
“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
“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
“man was born to live either in a state of distracting inquietude or of lethargic disgust.” Voltaire, Candide
“it is the madness of maintaining that everything is right when it is wrong.” Voltaire, Candide
“our labour preserves us from three great evils—weariness, vice, and want.” Voltaire, Candide
“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
“we must cultivate our garden.” Voltaire, Candide
“If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?” Voltaire, Candide
“Secret griefs are more cruel than public calamities.” Voltaire, Candide
“Fools admire everything in an author of reputation. For my part, I read only to please myself.” Voltaire, Candide
“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
“if hawks have always had the same character why should you imagine that men may have changed theirs?” Voltaire, Candide
“Indeed, the law of nature teaches us to kill our neighbour, and such is the practice all over the world.” Voltaire, Candide
“God has punished the knave, and the devil has drowned the rest.” Voltaire, Candide
“There can be no effect without a cause . . . the whole is necessarily concatenated and arranged for the best.” Voltaire, Candide
“it is noble to write as one thinks; this is the privilege of humanity.” Voltaire, Candide
“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
“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
“'You know England? Are they as foolish there as in France?' 'It is another kind of folly'” Voltaire, Candide
“Observe, that the nose has been formed to bear spectacles—thus we have spectacles.” Voltaire, Candide
“We are at the end of all our troubles, and at the beginning of happiness.” Voltaire, Candide
“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
“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
“Pangloss most cruelly deceived me when he said that everything in the world is for the best.” Voltaire, Candide
“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

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contradiction happiness work nature humanity world violence care vice admiration France inquisition hate life power God books evil men change

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Candide (27)