This saying translates Voltaire's Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles, the observation which the philosophical optimist Dr Pangloss in Candide (1759) persists in making, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
The administrative departments were consuming miles of red tape in the correctest forms of activity, and everything was for the best in the best of all possible worlds.
[1911 G. B. Shaw Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet 299]
I agreed with happy Miss Emily that everything was for the best in the best of possible worlds.
[1943 A. Christie Moving Finger xv.]
Fate had handed him the most stupendous bit of goose [luck] and‥all was for the best in this best of all possible worlds.
[1961 Wodehouse Ice in Bedroom ii.]
Related to: content and discontent; optimism
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
