Voltaire - Candide (1759)

48 Sourced Quotes

View all Voltaire Quotes
This is the happiest of all men, for he is superior to everything he possesses.

Voltaire
Our labour preserves us from three great evils — weariness, vice, and want.

Voltaire
When a man is in love, jealous, and just whipped by the Inquisition, he is no longer himself.

Voltaire
[Optimism] is a mania for saying things are well when one is in hell.

Voltaire
"Let us work without reasoning," said Martin; "it is the only way to make life endurable."

Voltaire
If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new.

Voltaire
What a pessimist you are!" exclaimed Candide. "That is because I know what life is," said Martin.

Voltaire
Work banishes those three great evils, boredom, vice, and poverty.

Voltaire
If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others like?

Voltaire
Reading nurtures the soul, and an enlightened friend brings it solace.

Voltaire
You're a bitter man," said Candide. That's because I've lived," said Martin.

Voltaire
She blushed and so did he. She greeted him in a faltering voice, and he spoke to her without knowing what he was saying.

Voltaire
Excellently observed", answered Candide; "but let us cultivate our garden.

Voltaire
To caress the serpent that devours us, until it has eaten away our heart.

Voltaire
For can anything be sillier than to insist on carrying a burden one would continually much rather throw to the ground?

Voltaire
Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice, and need.

Voltaire
I read only to please myself, and enjoy only what suits my taste.

Voltaire
In this country [England] it is useful from time to time to kill one admiral in order to encourage the others.

Voltaire