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Citation Information
How to Cite
Manser, Martin H. "all's for the best in the best of all possible worlds." Writer's Reference Center. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 18 Apr. 2025. <http://fofweb.infobase.com/wrc/Detail.aspx?iPin=DOP00037>.
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all's for the best in the best of all possible worlds

Definition 
Everything that happens does so for a good reason, and things in general cannot be any better; generally used to present an optimistic worldview: "The administrative departments were consuming miles of red tape in the correctest forms of activity, and everything was for the best in the best of all possible worlds" (George Bernard Shaw, The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet, 1911). The proverb is a translation of a line from the French writer Voltaire's philosophical tale Candide (1759). In The Silver Stallion (1926), James Branch Cabell made the more cynical observation: "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true."

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