James Proctor’s Reviews > The Portable Voltaire > Status Update
James Proctor
is on page 296 of 569
"I think everything goes awry with us, that nobody knows his rank or his office, nor what he is doing, nor what he ought to do, and that except at supper, which is quite gay and where there appears to be a certain amount of sociability, all the rest of their time is passed in senseless quarrels: lawyers with churchmen, financiers with the people, wives with husbands, relatives with relatives--'tis an eternal war."
— Mar 09, 2023 09:21PM
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James Proctor
is on page 366 of 569
"But," said Setoc, "women have had the privilege of burning themselves for more than a thousand years: who among us would dare alter a law thus hallowed by time? Is there anything more worthy of respect than an abuse dating from ancient times?"
"Well," answered Zadig, "reason is more ancient still."
— Mar 24, 2023 07:56PM
"Well," answered Zadig, "reason is more ancient still."
James Proctor
is on page 350 of 569
"He is too dry," they said. "He has no genius. When he talks one does not see the ocean take to flight, or the stars fall, or the sun melt like wax. He lacks the flowery Asiatic style."
Zadig was content to have the style of good sense. Everyone was on his side, not because he was what a man should be, not because he was wise, not because he was lovable, but just because he was grand vizier.
— Mar 24, 2023 06:58PM
Zadig was content to have the style of good sense. Everyone was on his side, not because he was what a man should be, not because he was wise, not because he was lovable, but just because he was grand vizier.
James Proctor
is on page 340 of 569
He brought together in his house the most honorable men and the most amiable women in Babylon. He gave dainty suppers preceded often by concerts, and enlivened by charming conversation whence he managed to banish the desire to show off one's own wit--which is the surest way both of having none and of spoiling the most brilliant society.
— Mar 23, 2023 09:41PM
James Proctor
is on page 329 of 569
People were astonished to observe that despite his good sense he never derided the loose, scrappy, noisy tittle-tattle, the reckless backbiting, the ignorant conclusions, the coarse quips, the empty tumult of words, which in Babylon were called "conversation." He had learned in the first book of Zarathustra that self-esteem is a balloon swollen with wind, whence tempests issue when it is pricked.
— Mar 23, 2023 09:13PM
James Proctor
is on page 321 of 569
"Well! my dear Pangloss," said Candide, "when you were hanged, dissected, stunned with blows and made to row in the galleys, did you always think that everything was for the best in this world?" "I am still of my first opinion," replied Pangloss," for after all I am a philosopher; and it should be unbecoming for me to recant..."
— Mar 10, 2023 08:50PM
James Proctor
is on page 305 of 569
"Ah! sir," replied Paquette, "that is one more misery of our profession. Yesterday I was robbed and beaten by an officer, and today I must seem to be in a good humor to please a monk."
— Mar 09, 2023 09:46PM
James Proctor
is on page 290 of 569
"But to what end was this world formed?" said Candide. "To infuriate us," said Martin.
— Mar 09, 2023 06:38AM
James Proctor
is on page 272 of 569
"What a nation," said he. "What men! What manners! If I had not been so lucky as to stick my sword through the body of Mademoiselle Cunegonde's brother I should infallibly have been eaten. But, after all, there is something good in the pure state of nature, since these people, instead of eating me, offered me a thousand civilities as soon as they knew I was not a Jesuit."
— Mar 07, 2023 05:16PM
James Proctor
is on page 252 of 569
"Alas! my dear," said she, "unless you have been raped by two Bulgarians, stabbed twice in the belly, have had two castles destroyed, two fathers and mothers murdered before your eyes, and have seen two of your lovers flogged in an auto-da-fe, I do not see how you can surpass me; moreover, I was born a Baroness with seventy-two quarterings and I have been a kitchen wench."
— Mar 06, 2023 04:49PM
James Proctor
is on page 243 of 569
Candide, terrified, dumbfounded, bewildered, covered with blood, quivering from head to foot, said to himself: "If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others?"
— Mar 05, 2023 04:39PM
