And Candide, even finding earthly paradise after a scandalous succession of troubles, decides to leave it after judging that in this country he would be “like everyone else” and that he would not be in the company of his beloved - who, according to his judgment, should already have a lover - showing us how man is a hostage to his own nature and his own ambition. In short, Voltaire places Candide in the front of human impotence when facing the environment, of the relentless human wickedness in all lands and the vile desire that commands our actions. And if we have today caveats as to the judgment of Leibniz’s philosophy made in Candide, due to the rediscovery of this philosopher already in the 19th century, Voltaire’s immortal work never loses its instructive value. “You can get what you want,” “The world is a projection of your interior,” “Thinking positive is the key to success,” and many other contemporary jargons are easily overthrown by Voltaire’s derision. Just as George Orwell’s Animal Farm is the best vaccine against communism, Voltaire’s Candide, or Optimism is the best vaccine against the risible contemporary notion of man’s self-reliance.
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