Candide
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Candide, ou l'Optimisme is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled
The title-page of the 1759 edition published by Cramer in Geneva, which reads, "Candide, or Optimism, translated from the German of Dr. Ralph."
This 1755 copper engraving shows the ruins of Lisbon in flames and a tsunami overwhelming the ships in the harbour.
Engraving of Voltaire published as the frontispiece to an 1843 edition of his Dictionnaire philosophique
1803 illustration of the two monkeys chasing their lovers. Candide shoots the monkeys, thinking they are attacking the women.
Best of all possible worlds
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The phrase "the best of all possible worlds" was coined by the German polymath and Enlightenment philosopher Gottfried Leibniz in his 1710 work Essais de Théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu, la liberté de
Candide
…advocating a deeply practical precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best" in the "best of all possible worlds". Candide is characterized by its tone as well as its erratic, fantastical, and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel with a story akin to a serious…
Gottfried Leibniz, the philosopher who coined the term "best of all possible worlds" in his 1710 work Théodicée.