Voltaire

2 quotes

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

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insightperfection

Source: La Bégueule, Voltaire, 1772 (also Dictionnaire philosophique, article 'Art dramatique')

Voltaire genuinely wrote 'Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien' — in the verse tale La Bégueule (1772) and in the Dictionnaire philosophique. Two caveats worth carrying: the literal sense is 'the better is the enemy of the good', and Voltaire himself presents it as the saying of an Italian sage ('Il meglio è l'inimico del bene'), so he is transmitting a proverb, not coining it. The English form given here is the standard idiomatic rendering.

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Paradise is where I am.

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spiritparadiseselfpresence

Source: Le Mondain, Voltaire, 1736

Condensed from the closing line of Voltaire's poem Le Mondain (1736): 'Le paradis terrestre est où je suis' — the earthly paradise is where I am. The attribution is solid; note that the corpus text drops 'earthly', which slightly shifts the poem's worldly, anti-ascetic joke toward a spiritual reading.

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