Meaning

Voltaire is making a skeptical observation about the medical profession by suggesting that the body tends to heal itself and that the physician's main contribution is keeping the patient distracted and reassured in the meantime. The remark is not purely cynical: it also acknowledges that comfort and calm attention have real value for a patient. But the sharper edge of the line is a reminder that confident-sounding intervention is not always the same as effective treatment.

Context

Voltaire was writing in the eighteenth century, when medical practice was still far removed from the evidence-based methods developed in later centuries. Treatments of the era were often ineffective or actively harmful, and a skeptical observer like Voltaire had ample reason to question whether physicians were truly curing patients or simply performing the role of healer while the body did the real work. His broader philosophy of empiricism and reason made him naturally suspicious of any profession that relied more on custom and authority than on observable results.

About the author

Voltaire was a French writer and philosopher of the Enlightenment, born in 1694 and active for most of the eighteenth century. He brought a restless, questioning intelligence to almost every subject he encountered, including science, religion, history, and human nature. Though trained in law, he became famous as a literary and philosophical figure whose work ranged from tragedy and satirical fiction to historical writing and polemical essays. He died in 1778, having shaped the intellectual culture of his era more than almost any other single writer.