Voltaire's phrase you must cultivate your own garden is one of the most famous statements in the world. But what did Voltaire mean by this and what can we learn from it to help us live our lives today? Here is a recipe for how to survive our troubled times.

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“It is crucial to note the subtitle of 18th century Europe’s most famous novel, written in three inspired days in 1759: ‘Candide – or Optimism’. If there was one central target that its author wanted satirically to destroy, it was the hope of his age, a hope that centered around science, love, technical progress and reason. Voltaire was enraged. Of course science wasn’t going to improve the world; it would merely give new power to tyrants. Of course philosophy would not be able to explain away the problem of evil; it would only show up our vanity. Of course love was an illusion; power a chimera, humans irredeemably wicked, and the future absurd. Of all this his readers were to be left in no doubt. Hope was a disease and it was Voltaire’s generous goal to try to cure us of it…”

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Produced in collaboration with:

Gabriella marsh
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Title animation produced in collaboration with

Vale Productions
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