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.

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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

I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?

Voltaire

Candide

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More information about this quote
Topic
Love of life

Author

Voltaire
Source
Candide
Medium
Novel
Genre
Satire
Language
French
Time
1759 1750s 18th century
Era
Age of Enlightenment
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Voltaire. Candide, ou l'Optimisme [Candide: or, All for the Best]. Geneva: Gabriel Cramer, 1759, ch. 12.

Current Citation

Voltaire. Candide, edited by Nicholas Cronk. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, ch. 12.

Another quote from the 1770s

But where says some is the king of America?...In America the law is king.

Thomas Paine

Common Sense

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More information about this quote
Topic
Rule of law

Author

Thomas Paine
Source
Common Sense
Medium
Pamphlet
Genre
Political literature
Language
English
Time
1776 1770s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Paine, Thomas [published anonymously]. Common Sense. Philadelphia: R. Bell, sect. 3.

Current Citation

Paine, Thomas. "Common Sense." Rights of Man, Common Sense, and Other Political Writings, edited by Mark Philp. Oxford University Press, 2009, sect. 3.

Another quote originally in French

The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.

Blaise Pascal

Pensées

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More information about this quote
Topic
Reason and emotion Reason Emotions The heart

Author

Blaise Pascal
Source
Pensées
Medium
Epigram
Genre
Philosophical literature
Language
French
Time
1662 1660s 17th century
Era
Age of Enlightenment
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Pascal, Blaise. Pensées [Thoughts]. Paris: Chez G. Desprez, 1670, no. 277.

Current Citation

Pascal, Blaise. "Pensées." Pensées and Other Writings, edited by Anthony Levi, translated by Honor Levi. Oxford University Press, 2008, no. 277.