Pangloss sometimes said to Candide, “There is a concatenation of events in this best of all possible worlds: for if you had not been kicked out of a magnificent castle for love of Miss Cunégonde: if you had not been put into the Inquisition: if you had not walked over America: if you had not stabbéd the Baron: if you had not lost all your sheep from the fine country of El Dorado: then you would not be here eating preserved citrons and pistachio-nuts.”

—Voltaire, Candide