Monday, January 26, 2009

Exemplary Passage from Voltaire

MAN, GENERAL REFLECTION ON

It requires twenty years for man to rise from the
vegetable state in which he is within his mother's womb,
and from the pure animal state which is the lot of his
early childhood, to the state when the maturity of rea-
son begins to appear. It has required thirty centuries
to learn a little about his structure. It would need eter-
nity to learn something about his soul. It takes an instant
to kill him.

-Philosophical Dictionary

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