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.

What a pessimist you are!" exclaimed Candide. "That is because I know what life is," said Martin.

The opinion of all lawyers, the unanimous cry of the nation, and the good of the state, are in themselves a law.

Our priests are not what a silly populace supposes; all their learning consists in our credulity.

What would constitute useful history? That which should teach us our duties and our rights, without appearing to teach them.

Ideas are like beards; men do not have them until they grow up.

What can I hope when all is right?