All styles are good except the boring kind.

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All styles are good except the boring kind. — Voltaire · Smartyfair

All styles are good except the boring kind.

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In plain words

Any kind of story is fine, as long as it is not dull.

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How sure this is: 60% sureLots of sources credit Voltaire with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
What turned up: L'Enfant prodigue, Preface (1736): "Tous les genres sont bons, hors le genre ennuyeux." No single named English translator located for this standard rendering; French original + primary work/year confirmed.
Work: L'Enfant prodigue
Occasion: 1736
Sources checked: en.wikiquote.orgChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 21 August 2026Sourced section, raw wikitext fetch — French original + citation to L'Enfant prodigue preface, 1736