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Voltaire used to drink 40 cups of coffee a day.
And it seems that in response to those who contested the abuse he declared: “I drink 40 coffees a day to be well awake and think about how to keep tyrants and imbeciles at bay” then adding “yes, it is a remarkably slow poison. I have been drinking it every day for more than seventy years and, so far, I have never experienced its sad effects on my health … “
Given the current trend … was he right?
Considering also the fact that his coffees were a kind of blend with chocolate … I miss a lot of them …
Hi I'm Claudia and this is KCDC.
Well, 40 cups a day seems to me to be a bit too much – but four are alright. I drink them daily and thrive on them.
Absolutely!
Forty sounds like a far-fetched number, but four could definitely be the perfect new number.
I wonder how Voltaire survived, if he really drank 40 cups a day. Maybe he just uses hyperbole in his writing?
ah ah ah!
Maybe!! Hyperbole is a minimum side effect if we consider the amount of coffee!
We could consider his own statement as a hyperbolic provocation 🙂
I also wonder how he did it …
Maybe he just wanted to boast?
You know, like boys want to show off, “Mine is the biggest”, “I can spit the farthest”, and so on.
ah ah ah!!
May be!
Sure the ones you have mentioned are typical male features 🙂
Well said!
Yes! Even great men and famous writers have a little boy hidden deep inside of them.
Olivia this consideration of yours makes me smile because in fact I had never thought about this aspect, indeed I always feel a certain awe towards famous writers, instead it is very nice to consider the human and also playful side.
Even so-called “great” writers can have the weirdest habits.
Exactly.
For example, my husband and I often smile thinking about how many times we have heard in many different places about cafes that became famous because Hemingway used to go there …
Yes, or the Pushkin café in Moscow. The famous writer might not even have been there, since it probably did not exist yet, during his lifetimes.
But giving a café the name of a famous writer certainly helps to draw in customers. It is a marketing decision.
So here is the explanation for Hemingway’s ubiquity in all those cafes!
Coming back to the subject of Voltaire and his possible bragging, I now remember that Empress Catherine the Great of Russia adored Voltaire. She invited him to her court, where he stayed for a long time.
It seems that she liked bragging men. She also liked Prince Potemkin who boasted that he built Crimean villages for her, when in reality he built only cardboard facades.
I think she knew that – but she liked him anyway.
Ah THANK YOU Olivia!!
This is an absolutely interesting anecdote!
I tried to look for something to learn more and I found this book about an exchange of letters between Voltaire and Catherine of Russia and I’m very curious: isn’t it fantastic!?
Yes, it is fantastic, Claudia. Catherine II was an educated woman, she improved her knowledge constantly by learning, reading, writing.
She was fluent in her native German language, as well as in Russian and French.
She was Voltaire’s intellectual friend and profited from his erudition.
Thanks Olivia!
I realize that Catherine of Russia is certainly an interesting character that I have never explored.
In terms of language skills like you: German, Russian and French, then you also know English!!
Yes, that’s it! German, French, English and Russian – I learned them in this chronological order. Now I can use them all.