Muchaswemayadmiresucharobustoldgamecockspiritinavaletudinarian，tocallitareligiousspiritwouldbeodd。YetitisforthemomentVoltaire’sreactiononthewholeoflife。
Jeme’nficheisthevulgarFrenchequivalentforourEnglishejaculation“Whocares？”Andthehappytermjeme’nfichismerecentlyhasbeeninventedtodesignatethesystematicdeterminationnottotakeanythinginlifetoosolemnly。
“Allisvanity“istherelievingwordinalldifficultcrisesforthismodeofthought，whichthatexquisiteliterarygeniusRenantookpleasure，inhislaterdaysofsweetdecay，inputtingintocoquettishlysacrilegiousformswhichremaintousasexcellentexpressionsofthe“allisvanity“stateofmind。Takethefollowingpassage，forexample——wemustholdtoduty，evenagainsttheevidence，Renansays——buthethengoeson：——
“TherearemanychancesthattheworldmaybenothingbutafairypantomimeofwhichnoGodhascare。Wemustthereforearrangeourselvessothatonneitherhypothesisweshallbecompletelywrong。Wemustlistentothesuperiorvoices，butinsuchawaythatifthesecondhypothesisweretrueweshouldnothavebeentoocompletelyduped。Ifineffecttheworldbenotaseriousthing，itisthedogmaticpeoplewhowillbetheshallowones，andtheworldlymindedwhomthetheologiansnowcallfrivolouswillbethosewhoarereallywise。
“Inutrumqueparatus，then。Bereadyforanything——thatperhapsiswisdom。Giveourselvesup，accordingtothehour，toconfidence，toskepticism，tooptimism，toironyandwemaybesurethatatcertainmomentsatleastweshallbewiththetruth……Good-humorisaphilosophicstateofmind；itseemstosaytoNaturethatwetakehernomoreseriouslythanshetakesus。