Do you believe that men have always massacred each other as they do to-day, that they have always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates, brigands, idiots, thieves, scoundrels, gluttons, drunkards, misers, envious, ambitious, bloody-minded, calumniators, debauchees, fanatics, hypocrites, and fools?

Croyez-vous, dit Candide, que les hommes se soient toujours mutuellement massacrés comme ils font aujourd'hui? qu'ils aient toujours été menteurs, fourbes, perfides, ingrats, brigands, faibles, volages, lâches, envieux, gourmands, ivrognes, avares, ambitieux, sanguinaires, calomniateurs, débauchés, fanatiques, hypocrites, et sots?

Voltaire

Candide

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More information about this quote

Topic

Man and war Human nature The human condition

Author

Voltaire

Source

Candide

Medium

Novel

Genre

Satire

Language

French

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Occupation

Philosopher Writer

From

France Europe

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Voltaire. Candide, ou l'Optimisme [Candide: or, All for the Best]. Geneva: Gabriel Cramer, 1759, ch. 21.

Current Citation

Voltaire. Candide, edited by Nicholas Cronk. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, ch. 21.

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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Voltaire

I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.

Voltaire

More information about this quote
Topic
Approaching death

Author

Voltaire
Language
French
Time
1778 1770s 18th century
Authentication Score 1
Citation

Voltaire. Note to his secretary, Jean-Louis Wagniere. 28 Feb. 1778.

Another quote from the 1750s

The law is a sort of hocus-pocus science.

Charles Macklin

Love a la Mode

More information about this quote
Topic
Law
Speaker
Sir Archy

Author

Charles Macklin
Source
Love a la Mode
Medium
Play
Language
English
Time
1759 1750s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Macklin, Charles. Love a la Mode. c. 1759, Drury Lane Theatre, London, England, UK, act 2, sc. 1.

Another quote about Human nature

Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasions for it.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Discourses on Livy

More information about this quote
Topic
Political theory Government Human nature

Author

Niccolo Machiavelli
Source
Discourses on Livy
Genre
Political literature Philosophical literature
Language
Italian
Time
1531 1530s 16th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Machiavelli, Niccolò. Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio [Discourses on the First Ten of Titus Livy]. Papal Privilege, 1531, bk. 1, ch. 3

Current Citation

Machiavelli, Niccolo. Discourses on Livy, translated by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 1, ch. 3.

Another quote from Age of Enlightenment

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never is, but always to be blessed.

Alexander Pope

An Essay on Man

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More information about this quote
Topic
Hope

Author

Alexander Pope
Source
An Essay on Man
Medium
Poem
Language
English
Time
1733 1730s 18th century
Era
Age of Enlightenment
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Pope, Alexander. "An Essay on Man." London: J. Wilford, 1733, ep. 1, l. 95.

Current Citation

Pope, Alexander. "An Essay on Man." The Major Works, edited by Pat Rogers. Oxford University Press, 2009, ep. 1, l. 95.

Another quote originally in French

There is not a woman in the world the possession of whom is as precious as that of the truths which she reveals to us by causing us to suffer.

Marcel Proust

In Search of Lost Time

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More information about this quote
Topic
Learning from suffering

Author

Marcel Proust
Source
The Fugitive In Search of Lost Time
Medium
Novel
Genre
Modernist literature
Language
French
Time
1922 1920s 20th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Proust, Marcel. Albertine disparue [Albertine Gone]. Paris: Gallimard, 1927.

Current Citation

Proust, Marcel. The Fugitive, edited and translated by Peter Collier. Penguin Classics, 2021.