"It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge"

Voltaire's quote is a criticism of the idea that virginity is a virtue. He recommends that virginity is not a virtue, but rather a barrier that separates lack of knowledge from knowledge. He implies that virginity is not something to be commemorated, however rather something to be conquered in order to gain knowledge. He is suggesting that understanding is better than virginity, and that it is an infantile superstitious notion to think otherwise. This quote is a tip that understanding is power, which it must be sought after and valued more than virginity. It is a suggestion that knowledge is the essential to progress which it ought to be pursued and commemorated, not virginity.