..."Excellently observed," answered Candide; "but let us cultivate our garden."
Cela est bien dit,' répondit Candide, mais il faut cultiver notre jardin.
Basically the point of the book is that Candide spends his whole life trying to discover the true philosophy that governs the world and chasing after his lost love, Cunegonde. When he finds her she's grown old and ugly and he doesn't love her anymore, but he marries her anyway and they settle down together. (Kind of a downer, right?) Anyway, at the end of the book he realizes that thinking too much about your lot in life, you can think yourself into misery. He decides that the key to happiness is to work yourself to distraction — hence the last line....But the older I get, the more I begin to see the wisdom in Voltaire's advice. He's not talking about apathy — if a holocaust were to happen Candide's advice wouldn't be to sit tight and cultivate your garden. He's talking about introspection, about questioning why things happen in your own life, instead of just taking them for what they are... as I digest the last line of "Candide" I'm beginning to think it's very good advice. There's nothing wrong with just going with the flow and enjoying life without asking "why". And yes, you can think yourself into misery.
(the whole benchilada)