The best is the enemy of the good.

Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien.

Voltaire

More information about this quote

Topic

Perfection

Author

Voltaire

Medium

Poem

Language

French

Time

1770 1770s 18th century

Occupation

Philosopher Writer

From

France Europe

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Voltaire. La Bégueule, Conte Moral. Lausanne: Chez François Grasset et Comp, 1772.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Voltaire about perfection: “The best is the enemy of the good.”
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A quote by Voltaire about perfection: “The best is the enemy of the good.”
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A quote by Voltaire about perfection: “The best is the enemy of the good.”
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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

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.

Voltaire

More information about this quote
Topic
Existence of God God

Author

Voltaire
Source
Letter to the Author of The Three Imposters
Medium
Letter
Language
French
Time
1768 1760s 18th century
Authentication Score 2
Citation

Voltaire. Épître à l'Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs [Letter to the author of The Three Impostors]. 10 Nov. 1770.

Another quote from the 1770s

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

Adam Smith

The Wealth of Nations

Buy The Wealth of Nations Books 1-3 at Amazon Buy The Wealth of Nations Books 1-3 at Amazon
Read The Wealth of Nations at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Self-interest Free market Capitalism

Author

Adam Smith
Source
The Wealth of Nations
Genre
Economic literature
Language
English
Time
1776 1770s 18th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations. Vol. 1, London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776, bk. 1, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations, edited by Edwin Cannan. The Modern Library, bk. 1, ch. 2.

Another quote originally in French

The extermination camps, in endeavoring to turn man into a beast, intimated that it is not life alone which makes him man.

Andre Malraux

More information about this quote
Topic
The Holocaust

Author

Andre Malraux
Language
French
Time
1967 1960s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Malraux, Andre. Antimemoires [Anti-memoirs]. Gallimard, 1967, sect. 2.