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Candide Quotes

Browse 55 quotes about Candide.

Candide Quotes

“As I was doing this, I was also reading the book that Charlotte Clingstone had selected from Horace's library and left for me, Candide-- her cafe's namesake. It was, unexpectedly, a screwball action comedy. The hapless main character, whose name was Candide, travelled with a band of companions from Europe to the New World and back. Along the way, characters were flogged, ship-wrecked, enslaved and nearly executed several times. There were earthquakes and tsunamis and missing body parts. One of Candide's companions, Pangloss, whose name I recognized from the hundred-dollar adjective he inspired-- I'd never known the etymology-- insisted throughout that all their misfortunes were for the best, for they delivered the companions into situations that seemed, at first, pretty good. Until those situations, too, went to shit. The story concluded on a small farm outside Istanbul, where Candide plunked a hoe into the dirt and declared his intention to retreat from adventure (and suffering) and simply tend his garden. The way the author told it-- the book was written in 1959-- it was clear I was supposed to think Candide had finally discovered something important.”

HomeAdventureTravelExplorationSettling DownCandide
Book:Sourdough
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“The shrieks were coming from two quite naked girls, who were pursued by a pair of apes snapping at their bottoms. [...] So he now raises his double-barrelled Spanish rifle, fires and kills both apes. 'God be praised, my dear Calambo! I have delivered these two poor creatures from grave peril; if it was a sin to kill an Inquisitor and a Jesuit, I have made ample amends by saving the lives of two girls [...]' He was about to continue, but words failed him when he saw the two girls throw their arms lovingly around the two apes and collapse in tears over their corpses, filling the air with the most pitiful lamentations. 'I was not expecting quite so much tenderness of heart,' he said at last to Cacambo, who replied: 'You've excelled yourself this time, Master; you have just despatched the two lovers of these young ladies.' '-Their lovers! Is it possible? You're making fun of me, Cacambo; how could anyone believe in such a thing?' - 'My dear Master,' retorted Cacambo, 'you are always astounished by everything; why do you find it so strange that in some countries it is apes who enjoy the favours of young ladies? After all, they are one-quarter human, just as I am one-quarter Spanish.”

HumorLoversApesCandideShoots
Book:Candide
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“They docked at Buenos Aires. Cunégonde, Captain Candide, and the old woman went to call on the Governor, Don Fernando d'Ibaraa y Figueora y Mascarenes y Lampourdos y Souza. This grandee had a pride to match his many names. He spoke to people with the most noble disdain, sticking his nose so far in the air, speaking in such a mercilessly loud voice, adopting so high and mighty a tone, and affecting so haughty a gait, that all who greeted him were also tempted to hit him.”

DisdainCandideHaughtinessPomposity
Book:Candide
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“— Смятате ли — каза Кандид, — че хората винаги са се избивали едни други както днес? Че винаги са били лъжци, измамници, лукави, неблагодарни, разбойници, грабливи, слаби, непостоянни, подли, завистливи, лакоми, пияници, скъперници, честолюбиви, кръвожадни, клеветници, развратни, фанатични, лицемери и глупци? — А вие вярвате ли — отвърна Мартен, — че ястребите винаги са яли гълъби, щом намерят гълъби? — Да, несъмнено — каза Кандид. — Ето — рече Мартен, — ако ястребите винаги са имали същия нрав, защо искате хората да са променили своя? — О, има много голяма разлика — възрази Кандид, — защото свободната воля… Разсъждавайки така, те пристигнаха в Бордо.”

PeopleHumansBulgarianCandide
Book:Candide
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“Hyper-selectionism has been with us for a long time in various guises; for it represents the late nineteenth century's scientific version of the myth of natural harmony all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds (all structures well designed for a definite purpose in this case). It is, indeed, the vision of foolish Dr. Pangloss, so vividly satirized by Voltaire in Candide the world is not necessarily good, but it is the best we could possibly have.”

WorldWellsLongHas BeensPurposeNaturalVisionCasesCenturyLateLong TimeHarmonyStructureVariousMythFoolishVersionsDrsDefiniteNineteenth CenturyGuiseHyperCandide
Book:The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History
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“"I have no more than twenty acres of ground," he replied, "the whole of which I cultivate myself with the help of my children; and our labor keeps off from us the three great evils - boredom, vice, and want."”

WantChildrenWholeHelpingThreeEvilLaborTwentiesVicesMy ChildrenBoredomAcresCandide
Book:Candide (Français Anglais édition illustré): Candide (French English Edition illustrated)
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“I should like to know which is worse: to be ravished a hundred times by pirates, and have a buttock cut off, and run the gauntlet of the Bulgarians, and be flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, and be dissected, and have to row in a galley -- in short, to undergo all the miseries we have each of us suffered -- or simply to sit here and do nothing?' That is a hard question,' said Candide.”

KnowsShouldSaidHardRunningCuttingHundredMiseryPirateCandideButtocksHard QuestionsGauntletBulgarians
Author:Voltaire
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“All men are by nature free; you have therefore an undoubted liberty to depart whenever you please, but will have many and great difficulties to encounter in passing the frontiers.”

MenLibertyPleaseDifficultyPassingPassingsEncountersFrontiersCandide
Book:VOLTAIRE’S ROMANCES: 20+ Novels, Short Stories, Satires & Fables (Illustrated): Candide, Zadig, The Huron, Plato's Dream, Micromegas, The White Bull, The Princess of Babylon, The Sage and the Atheist, The Man of Forty Crowns, Bababec, Ancient Faith and Fable, The Study of Nature…
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“All events are linked together in the best of possible worlds; after all, if you had not been driven from a fine castle by being kicked in the backside for love of Miss Cunegonde, if you hadn't been sent before the Inquisition, if you hadn't traveled across America on foot, if you hadn't given a good sword thrust to the baron, if you hadn't lost all your sheep from the good land of Eldorado, you wouldn't be sitting here eating candied citron and pistachios. - That is very well put, said Candide, but we must cultivate our garden.”

IfsWorldWellsSaidTogetherAmericaLostGivenFeetLandMissingEventsFineEatingSittingGardenDrivenSheepTraveledLinkedCastlesThrustInquisitionBacksidesCandidePistachios
Author:Voltaire
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