People have declaimed against luxury for two thousand years, in verse and in prose, and people have always delighted in it.

On a declame contre le luxe depuis deux mille ans, en vers et en prose, et on l'a toujours aime.

Voltaire

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Topic

Luxury Wealth Greed

Author

Voltaire

Source

Philosophical Dictionary

Language

French

Time

1764 1760s 18th century

Occupation

Philosopher Writer

From

France Europe

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Voltaire [published anonymously]. "Luxe [Luxury]." Dictionnaire Philosophique Portatif. Geneva: Gabriel Grasset, 1764.

Current Citation

Voltaire. "Luxury." Philosophical Dictionary, translated by Theodore Besterman. Penguin Classics, 1984.

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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Voltaire

If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?

Voltaire

Candide

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Topic
Problem of evil

Author

Voltaire
Source
Candide
Medium
Novel
Genre
Satire
Statement Type
Question
Language
French
Time
1759 1750s 18th century
Era
Age of Enlightenment
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Voltaire. Candide, ou l'Optimisme [Candide: or, All for the Best]. Geneva: Gabriel Cramer, 1759, ch. 6.

Current Citation

Voltaire. Candide, edited by Nicholas Cronk. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, ch. 6.

Another quote from the 1760s

Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Topic
Freedom Liberation The human condition

Author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Source
The Social Contract
Genre
Political literature Philosophical literature
Statement Type
Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
French
Time
1762 1760s 18th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique [On the Social Contract or Principles of Political Law]. Amsterdam: Marc Michel Rey, 1762, bk. 1, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. "Of the Social Contract." Of the Social Contract and Other Political Writings, translated by Quintin Hoare. Penguin Classics, 2012, bk. 1, ch. 1.

Another quote about Wealth

The character which results from wealth is that of a prosperous fool.

Aristotle

Rhetoric

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Topic
Corrosive effects of wealth Downsides of wealth Wealth Character Fools

Author

Aristotle
Source
Rhetoric
Genre
Philosophical literature
Language
Greek
Time
322 BC 320s BC 4th century BC
Era
Classical antiquity
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Aristotle. Rhetoric. 322 BC, bk. 2, pt. 16, sect. 3.

Current Citation

Aristotle. The Art of Rhetoric, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2018, bk. 2, pt. 16, sect. 3.

Another quote originally in French

You will laugh when you learn that I thought nothing of deceiving idiots, scoundrels and fools when I needed to do so. As for my deceptions of women, these are not of the sort to be tallied, since when love has a hand in things, each party usually dupes the other.

Giacomo Casanova

Histoire de Ma Vie

More information about this quote
Topic
Men and women Deception

Author

Giacomo Casanova
Source
Histoire de Ma Vie
Genre
Autobiography and memoir
Language
French
Time
1791 1790s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Casanova, Giacomo. Aus den Memoiren des Venetianers Jacob Casanova de Seingalt [From the Memoirs of the Venetian Jacob Casanova de Seingalt]. Vol. 1, Leipzig: Brodhaus, 1822, preface.

Current Citation

Casanova, Giacomo. History of My Life, vols. 1-2, translated by Willard R. Trask. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1966.