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Voltaire 1694-1778
Voltaire was born and died in Paris, France.
Already as a child,
François-Marie Arouet had always been the witty type.
He later mixed his wit with a biting
sarcasm, adopted the pen name Voltaire, and wrote his fingers off.
Nobody knows for sure why he picked the name Voltaire.
In 1717, he made fun of the wrong
person, who didn't think it was hilarious at all, and who had the power to put
him into prison. Thus, Voltaire stayed for almost a year at the now
famous
Bastille.
Who was this person that had no sense
of humor?
Philippe II,
duke d'Orléans, and ruler of France until wee
King Louis XV was old enough to
rule all by himself.
Voltaire and Joan of
Arc
One of Voltaire's poems was called La
Pucelle d’Orléans (The Maid of Orleans.)
Here is more on
Joan of Arc.
And here is more about
Joan of Arc in French literature.
Voltaire on Religion
He was against it and, to argue his point, he referred to the Dark Ages. Point taken.
Voltaire Quoted
Here is an example from Voltaire's
1736 Alzire:
Abbè Guyot
Desfontaines: Il faut que je vive.
Comte d'Argenson: Je n'en vois pas la
nècessitè.
In other
words:
Abbè Guyot
Desfontaines: I must live.
Comte d'Argenson: I don't see the
necessity.
This is from Voltaire's Epître à l'auteur du
livre des Trois imposteurs (1768):
Si Dieu
n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer.
If God did not
exist, it would be necessary to invent him.
In 1878, the 100th
anniversary of Voltaire's death,
Victor Hugo
roasted him as follows:
Jèsus a pleurè,
Voltaire a souri; c’est de cette larme
divine et de ce sourire humain qu’est faite
la douceur de la civilisation actuelle.
In other
words:
Jesus wept,
Voltaire smiled. Of that divine tear and of
that human smile the sweetness of present
civilization is composed.
Here is a
Voltaire timeline.
And maybe, see also
Human Rights
More History
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