“Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one.”
Voltaire · Enlightenment
knowledgemind
Paraphrase or translation
Philosopher
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Voltaire
1694–1778 · Enlightenment · Enlightenment
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Francois-Marie Arouet, who wrote as Voltaire, was born in 1694 and died in 1778. He was a dramatist, historian, correspondent, and polemicist, not a builder of a system. Candide, 1759, ends with a garden: after war, Lisbon, and Pangloss's claim that all is for the best, Candide says we must cultivate our garden. The line is a character's, in a satire, not an essay in the author's voice.
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A late letter prefers the discomfort of doubt to ridiculous assurance. A longer passage on miracles argues that those who can make people believe absurdities can make them commit injustices. The punchy English of that thought is a compression. He did not write the sentence, often pinned on him, about defending to the death a right to say what one disapproves.
Evelyn Beatrice Hall wrote that summary of his attitude. His real targets are dogmatism, torture, and religious persecution. Quoting him well means keeping the genre, the compression, and the false attributions in view.
Start here
Candide, especially the Lisbon chapters and chapter 30
The garden line is unintelligible without the disasters and without Pangloss. The book is short enough to finish.
Quotations
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
Voltaire · Enlightenment
knowledgeethicssociety
Paraphrase or translation
“That is well said, but we must cultivate our garden.”
Voltaire · Enlightenment
ethicssocietymeaning
Paraphrase or translation
“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”
Voltaire · Enlightenment
societymeaningethics
Paraphrase or translation
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Voltaire · Enlightenment
freedomjusticesociety
Misattributed
Key ideas
The garden
Candide's last line turns from explaining horror as necessary to a limited practical work, and it is not Voltaire's whole politics.
Doubt and assurance
Doubt is uncomfortable and dogmatic assurance is ridiculous, which is a jab at theatre, not a ban on earned confidence.
Absurdity and cruelty
Getting people to swallow nonsense is a political instrument, because the nonsense can be walked toward injustice.
Major works
Candide (1759)
The satire. Chapter 30 is the garden. Pangloss is not the author's spokesman.
Philosophical Dictionary (1764)
Alphabetical polemic. Articles are arguments, not a system.
Treatise on Tolerance (1763)
Written after the Calas case. A campaign, not a detached essay.
Influences
- John Locke
- Michel de Montaigne
- Newton
- Bayle
Influenced
- Denis Diderot
- Later campaigns against judicial torture
Common misreadings
- He wrote that he would defend to the death the right to say a hated sentence. Hall wrote the summary.
- Cultivate our garden means private life is the whole duty, or that it answers a massacre.
Topic hubs
Famous lines Voltaire never said
Misattributed means the library does not treat the sentence as theirs. Questionable means there is a real doubt, which is not the same as a proof they never wrote it. Both are listed here.
- Misattributed
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Hall wrote this as an illustration of Voltaire's attitude, not as a sentence from him. It does not appear in his letters or works. The attitude it sketches is related to arguments he did make for toleration. The words are hers.
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FAQ
What is the best book to start with?
Candide, especially the Lisbon chapters and chapter 30 The garden line is unintelligible without the disasters and without Pangloss. The book is short enough to finish.
What is the most famous quote?
This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Voltaire that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one.” (Letter to Frederick William, Prince of Prussia, 28 November 1770, Paraphrase or translation).
What is the most misquoted line?
The library marks this as Misattributed: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Hall wrote this as an illustration of Voltaire's attitude, not as a sentence from him. It does not appear in his letters or works. The attitude it sketches is related to arguments he did make for toleration. The words are hers.
What is one key idea, in a sentence?
The garden: Candide's last line turns from explaining horror as necessary to a limited practical work, and it is not Voltaire's whole politics.