Quote by Voltaire

The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year.


The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times

Summary

This quote suggests that there are countless opportunities to engage in negative or harmful behavior on a daily basis, often without much effort or thought. In contrast, finding opportunities to do good deeds or make positive contributions to the world is much rarer and requires greater intention and effort. It highlights the imbalance between the ease of engaging in mischief versus the difficulty in actively pursuing opportunities for acts of kindness and goodness.

Topics

Good
By Voltaire
Liked the quote? Share it with your friends.

Random Quotations

I saw exactly one picture of Marx and one of Lenin in my whole stay, but it's been a long time since ideology had anything to do with it. Not without cunning, Fat Man and Little Boy gradually mutated the whole state belief system into a debased form of Confucianism, in which traditional ancestor worship and respect for order become blended with extreme nationalism and xenophobia. Near the southernmost city of Kaesong, captured by the North in 1951, I was taken to see the beautifully preserved tombs of King and Queen Kongmin. Their significance in F.M.-L.B. cosmology is that they reigned over a then unified Korea in the 14th century, and that they were Confucian and dynastic and left many lavish memorials to themselves. The tombs are built on one hillside, and legend has it that the king sent one of his courtiers to pick the site. Second-guessing his underling, he then climbed the opposite hill. He gave instructions that if the chosen site did not please him he would wave his white handkerchief. On this signal, the courtier was to be slain. The king actually found that the site was ideal. But it was a warm day and he forgetfully mopped his brow with the white handkerchief. On coming downhill he was confronted with the courtier's fresh cadaver and exclaimed, 'Oh dear.' And ever since, my escorts told me, the opposite peak has been known as 'Oh Dear Hill.'I thought this was a perfect illustration of the caprice and cruelty of absolute leadership, and began to phrase a little pun about Kim Jong Il being the 'Oh Dear Leader,' but it died on my lips.

Christopher Hitchens