“Tolerance is the appanage of humanity.”Voltaire · Dicționar filozofic · 1764 · Tolérance
Tolerance is not weakness, but the strength of one who knows their mind's limits.
Voltaire wrote in an age when religious error could be punished with prison or death. He argues that intolerance comes from placing yourself above others, convinced you alone possess the truth, and that this is pride rather than virtue. A mature person knows their own mind is limited and fallible, so they do not condemn those who think differently. A simple example: someone who accepts that a neighbor holds another faith, without contempt, shows more inner strength than someone determined to convert them by force.
Voltaire takes tolerance further: it is not merely a passive attitude, but a daily practice of the mind. To bear different thinking means to subject your own beliefs to the same doubt you apply to others. Anyone who demands correction only from those around them, while never questioning themselves, remains caught in the same pride. Think of a family argument about politics: the person who listens to the end, even keeping their position, practices something harder than the one who interrupts. Tolerance is, in essence, an inner discipline, not a concession made to others. And a discipline can be trained, step by step.
Why it matters In a society where political opinions and identities clash publicly, remembering that tolerance signals strength helps anyone tempted to despise those who are wrong.