Long TextExercise 74 of 81

There is a passage in Voltaire's Candide that has been so frequently quoted as to have acquired the deadening patina of a platitude: 'Il faut cultiver notre jardin' - we must cultivate our garden. The injunction is typically read as an endorsement of modest, private industry over the grandiose ambitions of…

• Why does the writer believe Voltaire's garden metaphor deserves deeper analysis than it usually receives?
• What problem does the writer identify with a garden that is too rigidly controlled?