Candide
Quotes for
Discussion
Chapters XV-XIX
“We are engaging the King of Spain’s
troops with the utmost vigor, and I assure
you they will be excommunicated and
beaten.” (the Baron)
Chapt XV
– page 66
“You insolent fellow!” exclaimed the Baron.
“You have the impudence to think of marrying
my sister, who has seventy-two quarterings in
her coat of arms, and you talk to me of such a
hot-headed notion? Have you no sense of
shame?”
Chapt XV
– pg 67
“What have I done! I have killed my old
master, my friend, and my brother-in-law!
I am the best-tempered man there ever
was, yet I have already killed three men,
and two of them were priests!” (Candide)
Chapter XV
page 67
“What is the use of prolonging my
miserable existence, if I must drag out my
days in remorse and despair at being
banished from her presence? And what
will the Jesuit periodicals say?” (Candide)
Chapter XVI –
page 68
“Thank Heaven for that [killing the 2
monkeys], my dear Cacambo! He
[Candide] exclaimed. “I have delivered
those two poor creatures from grave
danger.”
Chapter XVI
Page 69
“What would Professor Pangloss say if he had
seen how unsophisticated nature behaves? No
doubt all is for the best, but I must say it is very
cruel to have lost Lady Cunegonde and to be
skewered by the Oreillons.” (Candide)
Chapter XVI –
page 71
Candide was full of admiration and kept
harping on his deliverance. “What grand
people they are! he said. “What fine
fellows! And what culture!”
Chapter XVI
Page 72
“The new world, you see, is no better than
the old; take my advice and let’s return to
Europe as quickly as we can.” (Cacambo)
Chapter XVII
page 73
“If we don’t find anything pleasant, we shall at
least find something fresh.” (Cacambo)
[they arrive at El Dorado by drifting in the
stream]
Chapter XVI
page 74
[On first arriving at El Dorado] The
farmer and the landscape gardener had
been equally busy in this country side, and
everything which served the needs of man
was pleasing to the sight.
Chapter XVII
page 74
Candide picked them [the jewels and gold] up
and, running after the tutor, handed them to him
with a deep bow and made signs to show that
Their Royal Highnesses had forgotten their
gold nuggets and precious stones. The village
schoolmaster smiled and threw them away…
Chapter XVII
– page 75
[their dinner]: “each garnished with two
parakeets, a boiled vulture weighing about
two hundred pounds, two delicious roast
monkeys…”
Chapter XVII
page 76
“What country can this be?” said one to the
other. “It must be unknown to the rest of the
world, because everything is so different from
what we are sued to. It is probably the country
where all goes well; for there must obviously
be some such place. And whatever Professor
Pangloss might say, I often noticed that all went
badly in Westphalia.” (Cacambo and Candide)
Chapter XVII
page 77
“With the agreement of the whole nation,
they made a law that no inhabitant should
ever leave our little kingdom; and that is
how our innocence and happiness have
been preserved.” (the El Dorado elder)
Chapter XVIII
page 78
After being told that the people do not pray but
instead give thanks all day – “Candide was
curious to see some of their priests, and told
Cacambo to ask where they could be found.”…
The old man smiled. “My friends,” said he,
“we are all priests…”
Chapter XVIII
page 80
Cacambo asked one of the lords-in-waiting how
he should behave in saluting His Majesty;
should he fall on his knees or should he
grovel… “The custom is,” said the lord-inwaiting, “to embrace the King and kiss him on
both cheeks.”
Chapter XVIII
page 81
Candide asked to see the Law Courts [and
prisons] and is told that there are none.
Chapter XVIII
pages 81 - 82
“It is quite true, my good fellow, that the house
where I was born won’t bear comparison with
the mansion of this country; but still I shall
never be happy without Lady Cunegonde… If
we stay here, we shall be no different from
anybody else; but if we go back to the old
world with a mere twelve sheep laden with
Elorado stones, we shall be richer than all the
kings of Europe put together.”
Chapter XVIII
page 82
“So these happy men decide to be happy
no longer and to make leave of His
Majesty.”
Chapter XVIII
page 83
“Those of us who work in the factories and
happen to catch a finger in the grindstone have
a hand chopped off; if we try to escape, they cut
off one leg. Both accidents happened to me.
That’s the price of your eating sugar in
Europe.” The slave that Cacambo and Candide
meet in Surinam.
Chapter XIX
page 86
“What is optimism?” asked Cacambo.
“It’s the passion for maintaining that all is
right when all goes wrong with us,”
replied Candide.
Chapter XIX
page 86