Quote by Voltaire: “Common sense is not so common.”

What everyone claims to have, almost nobody actually uses. The joke is in the name — 'common' implies it's shared equally, but Voltaire noticed that most people act on habit, prejudice, and convention rather than clear thinking. True good judgement is rare.

Voltaire published his Philosophical Dictionary in 1764, a collection of short, pointed essays attacking superstition, fanaticism, and intellectual laziness. The book was publicly burned in Geneva, illustrating precisely the climate of unreason he was mocking.

French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on religious intolerance, and his advocacy for freedom of speech. His satirical novella Candide, published in 1759, remains a masterpiece of ironic prose.