Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
VoltaireRead
I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life involves suffering, and acceptance of this fact is crucial.
This quote by Voltaire reflects a deep philosophical perspective on the nature of existence and the inevitability of suffering. The imagery of flies being consumed by spiders serves as a metaphor for life's challenges and sorrows, suggesting that just as some creatures are destined to be prey, humans too must come to terms with the hardships they face, finding resignation and acceptance as vital responses to their inevitable struggles.
Themes
LifeSufferingAcceptanceResignationPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote during a discussion about the nature of suffering in a philosophy class.
More from Voltaire
All quotes →He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
VoltaireRead
It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.
VoltaireRead
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
VoltaireRead
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
VoltaireRead
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
VoltaireRead
Similar quotes
Perhaps there are other bits of my life that would take on content, take on shadow, if only I read more and thought less about money.
Martin AmisRead
Conventions are unstated agreements within a community to abide by a single way of doing things - not because there is any inherent advantage to the choice, but because there is an advantage to everyone making the same choice.
Steven PinkerRead
I have not come to know atheism as a result of logical reasoning and still less as an event in my life: in me it is a matter of instinct.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
As wave is driven by wave_x000D_ And each, pursued, pursues the wave ahead,_x000D_ So time flies on and follows, flies, and follows,_x000D_ Always, for ever and new. What was before_x000D_ Is left behind; what never was is now;_x000D_ And every passing moment is renewed.
OvidRead
If there were a sympathy in choice, War, death, or sickness, did lay siege to it, Making it momentary as a sound, Swift as a shadow, short as any dream, Brief as the lightning in the collied night That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth, And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!' The jaws of darkness do devour it up; So quick bright things come to confusion.
William ShakespeareRead
I do not believe in sex distinction in literature, law, politics, or trade - or that modesty and virtue are more becoming to women than to men, but wish we had more of it everywhere.
Belva LockwoodRead