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

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.

More from Voltaire

Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
VoltaireRead
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

The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well? You may say the wisest thing you can, old man, - you who have lived seventy years, not without honor of a kind, - I hear an irresistible voice which invites me away from all that.
Henry David ThoreauRead
There is no dusk to be, There is no dawn that was, Only there's now, and now, And the wind in the grass.
Archibald MacleishRead
For my part, I love to stand foot to foot with an honest foeman. To open warfare, bold and true hearts raise no objection but the ground of quarrel; it is covert enmity which we have most cause to fear, and best reason to loathe. That crafty kindness which inveigles me to sacrifice principle is the serpent in the grass - deadly to the incautious wayfarer.
Charles SpurgeonRead
I'm like everyone elseβ€”I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does.
Paulo CoelhoRead
Born with blue spectacles, you would think the world was blue and never be conscious of the existence of the distorting glass.
T. E. HulmeRead
If the reporter has killed our imagination with his truth, he threatens our life with his lies.
Karl KrausRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.