Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
VoltaireRead
Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that everything has a reason or cause, dismissing the randomness implied by 'chance.'
In this quote, Voltaire asserts that the concept of chance is nonsensical because it overlooks the underlying reasons or causes that give rise to events and phenomena. This perspective suggests that understanding causality is essential to grasp the nature of existence, indicating that everything happens for a reason and that randomness does not truly exist.
In practice
This quote could be used in a debate about free will versus determinism.
Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
Take but degree away, untune that string, and hark, what discord follows!
I took comfort, as a kid, in knowing that things had always been as awful and as wonderful as they were now, that the world was always on the edge of total destruction.
The word in language is half someone else’s… it exists in other people’s mouths, in other people’s contexts, serving other people’s intentions: it is from there that one must take the word, and make it one’s own.
The past feels distant, even when it's near. The future feels assured, even when it isn't.
Man is subject to innumerable pains and sorrows by the very condition of humanity, and yet, as if nature had not sown evils enough in life, we are continually adding grief to grief and aggravating the common calamity by our cruel treatment of one another.
You exist without the feeling of existence.
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