Candide
Innocent, trusting soul
Candide is a satirical novella by Voltaire, published in 1759, following a naïve young man whose optimistic worldview—"all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds"—is relentlessly battered by misfortune.
The title has become shorthand for innocent optimism blind to harsh realities: He approached politics with a Candide-like faith in human goodness.
The work famously concludes that one must "cultivate one's garden"—tend to practical matters rather than philosophize about cosmic justice.
French Enlightenment satirist
- satireMockery exposing vice
- optimismTendency to expect good
- EnlightenmentEra prioritizing reason over dogma
- philosophicalConcerned with fundamental truths
El Dorado · garden · cultivate · Leibniz · parody · adventure · picaresque · Westphalia
Tendency to expect good
- LeibnizBaroque-era polymath philosopher-mathematician
- theodicyDefense of divine goodness
- sufferingSustained experience of distress
- evilProfound moral wickedness
critique · disillusionment · rationalism · absurdity · refutation · providence · determinism · free will
Freedom from wrongdoing
- naiveteInnocent lack of experience
- guilelessnessAbsence of cunning
- purityUncontaminated quality
- simplicityLack of complexity
trusting · unworldly · credulous · artless · unsophisticated · childlike · ingenuous · wide-eyed
Voltaire
French Enlightenment satirist
- satireMockery exposing vice
- optimismTendency to expect good
- EnlightenmentEra prioritizing reason over dogma
philosophical · El Dorado · garden · cultivate · Leibniz · parody · adventure · picaresque · Westphalia · Martin
optimism
Tendency to expect good
- LeibnizBaroque-era polymath philosopher-mathematician
- theodicyDefense of divine goodness
- sufferingSustained experience of distress
evil · critique · disillusionment · rationalism · absurdity · refutation · providence · determinism · free will · meaning
innocence
Freedom from wrongdoing
- naiveteInnocent lack of experience
- guilelessnessAbsence of cunning
- purityUncontaminated quality
simplicity · trusting · unworldly · credulous · artless · unsophisticated · childlike · ingenuous · wide-eyed · sincere
protagonist
Story's central figure
traveler · lover · pupil · exile · wanderer · idealist · disillusioned · pilgrim · seeker · everyman
Bernstein
- musicalSung theatrical production
- BroadwayManhattan theatrical district
- HellmanPopular mayo manufacturer
overture · 1956 · Sondheim · Wilbur · coloratura · soprano · operetta · revival · adaptation · theatrical
- 18th-Century NovelsDangerous Liaisons, Julie, The Nun
- French NovellasThe Stranger, The Little Prince, Rene, Thais
- Voltaire WorksZaire, Mahomet, Brutus, Semiramis, Irene
- classicsHomer, Iliad, the Iliad, Odyssey, the Odyssey
- MasterpiecesMona Lisa, Last Supper, Starry Night, The Scream, David
- French LiteratureVictor Hugo, Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Dumas, Jules Verne
Candidepessimism
Expecting unfavorable outcomes
nihilism · cynicism · Schopenhauer · Leibniz · fatalism
CandideDiogenes
Founder of Cynicism
Raskolnikov · Hamlet · Job · Iago · Mephistopheles
- candid portraitsUnposed photographs of people
- candid cameraUnobtrusive recording device
- presidential candidatePerson seeking executive office
- candid moment
- candid shotsUnposed, natural photographs
- job candidate