The topic today is about one of my
favourite books. I have three favourite books (and just by chance they all
start with ‘C’): Candide, A Confederacy of
Dunces, and A Clockwork Orange.
Why I have chosen these...I don’t know. I never really thought about it too
much before beyond the fact that I like them. But upon deeper thought, perhaps
it is because for each of the books, I had never before that point read
anything like them.
This post, in particular is about Candide, or Optimism by Voltaire. This
is a great book and I first read it at a time in my life when I was absolutely
miserable. Nothing was going right in my life – or so I thought – and I hoped
for something better. This book helped! The misery that Candide suffers while still hoping that
he was in ‘the best of all possible worlds’ is funny, sad, and cynical. I love
this book! But, I do have a hankering for utopian literature in general. And I
would consider this – for me – to be a bit utopian in a sense. Candide is
always out searching for his eutopia, and finds it in El Dorado momentarily yet
decides it still isn’t good enough because his love isn’t there. I guess it is
like some people say...’everything happens for a reason’, or ‘look on the
bright side’... Well, I don’t believe in all that garbage. Sometimes things
just suck. But it’s not totally cynical and pessimistic to denounce Leibnizian
thought or optimism in general. Rather, you can accept that things suck for the
time being, or things could be worse, or whatever, and say that ‘everything is
not so bad’.
Here are some of my favourite quotes from Candide (the translated version you see
in the picture above):
‘A hundred times I wished to kill myself,
but my love of life persisted. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of the
most fatal of our faults.’ – the old woman
‘When one cannot come to terms with one
world, one can always do so with another. ‘Tis a great delight to see and do
new things.’ – Cacambo
‘If we find nothing pleasant, at least we
shall find something new.’ – Cacambo
‘...when one is tolerably at ease in any
place, he should remain there.’ – King of El Dorado
‘Fools have a habit of believing that
everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part, I read only to
please myself, and like only what suits my taste.’ – Pococurante
‘Such are my sentiments. I speak my mind,
and am perfectly indifferent whether others think as I do.’ - Pococurante
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