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The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year.
Voltaire
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Interpretation

What this quote means

People encounter many chances to do wrong but seldom find opportunities to do good.

This quote by Voltaire highlights the striking imbalance between the frequent temptations to engage in mischief and the rare chances to perform good deeds. It suggests a challenge to human nature, where negative actions are often easier to come by than positive ones, thereby encouraging individuals to be mindful of their choices and strive for goodness amidst everyday temptations.

Themes

OpportunityMischiefGoodVoltaireChoices

In practice

Example use cases

During a speech about ethics in business, one could use this quote to illustrate the importance of integrity.

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We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
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Quote by Voltaire | QuoteProject