Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
VoltaireRead
Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Even in the worst situations, we should still find joy and reasons to celebrate.
Voltaire's quote illustrates the idea that life can be full of challenges and hardships, likening it to a shipwreck. However, amidst these struggles, it is crucial to hold onto our sense of joy and gratitude, represented by singing in the lifeboats, emphasizing resilience and the importance of maintaining a positive outlook even when faced with adversity.
Themes
LifeJoyResilienceHappinessAdversity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared in a motivational speech to uplift an audience facing tough challenges.
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
We have this habit of romanticizing the lives of writers. I remember when I was a kid, I was like, 'I want to be Kurt Vonnegut.'
John GreenRead
In life, there's the beginning and the end. The beginning don't matter. The end don't matter. All that matters is what you do in between – whether you're prepared to do what it takes to make change. There has to be physical and material sacrifice. When all the dust settles and we're getting ready to play down for the ninth inning, the greatest reward is to know that you did your job when you were here on the planet.
John CarlosRead
Let us fill a cup and drink to that most noble, ridiculous, laughable, sublime figure in our lives... The Young Man Who Was. Let us drink to his dreams, for they were rainbow-colored; to his appetites, for they were strong; to his blunders, for they were huge; to his pains for they were sharp; to his time for it was brief; and to his end, for it was to become one of us.
Herman WoukRead
There are two tests in life, more important than any other test. On Monday morning, when you wake up, do you feel in the pit of your stomach you can't wait to go to work? And when you're ready to go home Friday afternoon, do you say, 'I can't wait to go home?'
Chuck SchumerRead
Each time I think I've created time for myself, along comes a throwback to disrupt my private space.
Wole SoyinkaRead
Going down (descending), I realized, was like taking hold of the loose strand of yard on a sweater you'd just spent hours knitting and pulling it until the entire sweater unraveled into a pile of string. Hiking the PCT was the maddening effort of knitting that sweater and unraveling it over and over again. As if everything gained was inevitably lost.
Cheryl StrayedRead