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.

What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.

It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape.

What can we say with certainty?

War is the greatest of all crimes; and yet there is no aggressor who does not color his crime with the pretext of justice.

God created woman to tame man.

Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.