From The Portable Voltaire, edited by Ben Ray Redman
FEEBLE
"A feeble novel is, I know, among books what a fool, always striving after wit, is in the world. We laugh at him and tolerate him. Such a novel brings the means of life to the author who wrote it, the publisher who sells it, to the molder, the printer, the papermaker, the binder, the carrier -- and finally to the bad wineshop where they all take their money. Further, the book amuses for an hour or two a few women, who like novelty in literature as in everything. Thus, despicable though it may be, it will have produced two important things -- profit and pleasure."
From Miscellaneous Letters
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