Candide

by Voltaire

I loved him as one loves for the first time—with idolatry, with transport.

The slaves, my companions, those who had taken them, soldiers, sailors, blacks, whites, mulattoes, and at last my captain, all were killed, and I remained dying on a heap of dead. Such scenes as this were transacted through an extent of three hundred leagues—and yet they never missed the five prayers a day ordained by Mahomet.

"More wise by far were the princes of their family, who remained in their native country; and they ordained, with the consent of the whole nation, that

none of the inhabitants should ever be permitted to quit this little kingdom; and this has preserved our innocence and happiness. The

They give us a pair of linen drawers for our whole garment twice a year. When we work at the sugar-canes, and the mill snatches hold of a finger, they cut off the hand; and when we attempt to run away, they cut off the leg; both cases have happened to me. This is the price at which you eat sugar in Europe.

"Well, my dear Pangloss," said Candide to him, "when you had been hanged, dissected, whipped, and were tugging at the oar, did you always think that everything happens for the best?" "I am still of my first opinion," answered Pangloss, "for I am a philosopher and I cannot retract, especially as Leibnitz could never be wrong; and besides, the pre-established harmony is the finest thing in the world, and so is his plenum and materia subtilis."

Martin especially concluded that man was born to live either in a state of distracting inquietude or of lethargic disgust.

"All that is very well," answered Candide, "but let us cultivate our garden."