When the masses get involved in reasoning, everything is lost.

Quand la populace se mele de raisonner, tout est perdu.

Voltaire

More information about this quote

Topic

The masses Democracy Political theory

Author

Voltaire

Medium

Letter

Language

French

Time

1766 1760s 18th century

Occupation

Philosopher Writer

From

France Europe

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Voltaire. Letter to Etienne Noel Damilaville. 1 Apr. 1766.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Voltaire about the masses: “When the masses get involved in reasoning, everything is lost.”
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A quote by Voltaire about the masses: “When the masses get involved in reasoning, everything is lost.”
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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

I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?

Voltaire

Candide

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More information about this quote
Topic
Love of life

Author

Voltaire
Source
Candide
Medium
Novel
Genre
Satire
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. 12.

Current Citation

Voltaire. Candide, edited by Nicholas Cronk. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, ch. 12.

Another quote from the 1760s

Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.

Samuel Johnson

Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D, by James Boswell

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More information about this quote
Topic
Rhetoric
Speaker
Samuel Johnson

Author

James Boswell
Source
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D
Genre
Biography
Language
English
Time
1763 1760s 18th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Johnson, Samuel. Quoted in journal entry, written by James Boswell. 31 July 1763.

Current Citation

Johnson, Samuel. Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson, written by James Boswell, edited by David Womersley. Penguin Classics, 2008.

Another quote about The masses

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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More information about this quote
Topic
The masses The human condition

Author

Henry David Thoreau
Source
Economy Walden
Genre
Autobiography and memoir
Language
English
Time
1854 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

Another quote originally in French

Knowing that certain nights whose sweetness lingers will keep returning to the earth and sea after we are gone, yes, this helps us die.

Albert Camus

The Sea Close By

More information about this quote
Topic
Acceptance of death Death The human condition

Author

Albert Camus
Source
The Sea Close By
Medium
Essay
Language
French
Time
1953 1950s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Camus, Albert. "The Sea Close By." Lyrical and Critical Essays. Vintage Books, 1970. Originally published in L'Eté [Summer]. Gallimard, 1954.