Voltaire (1694 – 1778)

Voltaire (1694 – 1778) – French philosopher and critic. Best known for his work Candide (1762) which epitomises his satire and criticisms of social convention. Voltaire was instrumental in promoting republican ideas due to his criticism of the absolute monarchy of France.

Highlights:

• Advocated freedom of thought, speech, politics, and religion.
• Fought against intolerance, injustice, inequality, ignorance, and superstition.
• Attacked idle aristocrats, corrupt government officials, religious prejudice, and the slave trade.
• He often had to express his views indirectly through fictional characters because he lived in an absolute monarchy in France.
• Wrote the famous novel Candide
• Voltaire often used a razor sharp humor and cutting sarcasm in his writings.
• He was imprisoned in the Bastille in Paris and exiled because of his attacks on the French government and the Catholic Church.
• Voltaire’s books were outlawed, even burned, by the authorities.

Quotes:

"My trade is to say what I think."

"I do not agree with a word you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

"As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities."

"Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do."

"God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."

"He who thinks himself wise, O heavens, is a great fool."