Besides, the punishment should not be inflicted upon them, but upon those sedentary and slothful barbarians, who, from their palaces, give orders for murdering a million of men and then solemnly thank God for their success.
Book 1752
Micromégas quotes
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About the book
Micromégas, a giant philosopher from a planet circling Sirius, sets off on a tour of the universe with a much smaller companion from Saturn. When the two visitors reach Earth and discover the tiny humans living on it, they question them about science, the soul and war. Voltaire's short tale is one of the earliest stories of visitors from other worlds and a sharp satire on human pride.
6 quotes
I tell you once for all, nature is like nature, and comparisons are odious.
I am now more than ever convinced that we ought to judge of nothing by its external magnitude. O God! who hast bestowed understanding upon such seemingly contemptible substances, thou canst with equal ease produce that which is infinitely small, as that which…
So, you see, we in a manner begin to die the very moment we are born: our existence is no more than a point, our duration an instant, and our globe an atom. Scarce do we begin to learn a little, when death intervenes before we can profit by experience.
Micromegas: Why then do you quote that same Aristotle in Greek? Aristotelian philosopher: Because … it is but reasonable we should quote what we do not comprehend in a language we do not understand.
We anatomize flies, … we measure lines, we make calculations, we agree upon two or three points which we understand, and dispute upon two or three thousand that are beyond our comprehension.