"Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?"
About this Quote
A question shaped like a compliment, sharpened into an accusation. Voltaire’s line flatters “the wise” while quietly implying they’re basically mythical. The real target isn’t just human stubbornness; it’s the Enlightenment fantasy that reason naturally triumphs once evidence is available. He’s poking at the gap between what we claim to value (rational learning, progress, the accumulation of knowledge) and what we actually do (repeat the same errors until pain makes the lesson unavoidable).
The phrasing matters. “Is there anyone” doesn’t invite an answer; it stages a roll call where no one steps forward. “So wise” raises the bar to an almost absurd height, making the desired virtue - learning from others’ mistakes - sound like sainthood. Then “experience” lands as the real authority, the thing we respect only after it bruises us. Voltaire, who watched Europe grind through religious conflict, censorship, and courtly vanity, understood that societies often treat history as entertainment rather than instruction. He wrote in a world where people could literally read accounts of persecution and still endorse the machinery that produced it.
The subtext is darker than a self-help maxim: people don’t merely fail to learn from others; they often prefer not to. Other people’s suffering stays abstract, conveniently deniable. Personal catastrophe, by contrast, is undeniable and immediate. Voltaire’s wit works because it weaponizes that uncomfortable truth. It nudges the reader into self-recognition - and then leaves them there, asking whether “wisdom” is a real human capacity or just a story we tell about ourselves after the damage is done.
The phrasing matters. “Is there anyone” doesn’t invite an answer; it stages a roll call where no one steps forward. “So wise” raises the bar to an almost absurd height, making the desired virtue - learning from others’ mistakes - sound like sainthood. Then “experience” lands as the real authority, the thing we respect only after it bruises us. Voltaire, who watched Europe grind through religious conflict, censorship, and courtly vanity, understood that societies often treat history as entertainment rather than instruction. He wrote in a world where people could literally read accounts of persecution and still endorse the machinery that produced it.
The subtext is darker than a self-help maxim: people don’t merely fail to learn from others; they often prefer not to. Other people’s suffering stays abstract, conveniently deniable. Personal catastrophe, by contrast, is undeniable and immediate. Voltaire’s wit works because it weaponizes that uncomfortable truth. It nudges the reader into self-recognition - and then leaves them there, asking whether “wisdom” is a real human capacity or just a story we tell about ourselves after the damage is done.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|
More Quotes by Voltaire
Add to List
