Voltaire - wikipedia Voltaire For other uses, see Voltaire ( disambiguation ). Voltaire Portrait by Nicolas de Largillière, c. 1724 François - Marie Arouet 21 November 1694 Paris, Kingdom of France 30 May 1778 ( 1778 - 05 - 30 ) ( aged 83 ) Paris, Kingdom of France Resting place Panthéon Pen name Voltaire Occupation Writer, philosopher, playwright, historian Nationality French Alma mater Collège Louis - le - Grand, University of Paris Partner Émilie du Châtelet ( 1733 -- 1749 ) François - Marie Arouet ( French : ( fʁɑ̃. swa ma. ʁi aʁ. wɛ ) ; 21 November 1694 -- 30 May 1778 ), known by his nom de plume Voltaire ( / voʊlˈtɛər / ; French : ( vɔl. tɛːʁ ) ), was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church and Christianity as a whole, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile and prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken advocate of civil liberties, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time. As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma, and the French institutions of his day. Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Adopts the name `` Voltaire '' 1.2 La Henriade and Mariamne 1.3 Great Britain 1.4 Château de Cirey 1.5 Prussia 1.6 Geneva and Ferney 1.7 Death and burial 2 Writings 2.1 History 2.2 Poetry 2.3 Prose 2.4 Letters 3 Religious views 3.1 Christianity 3.2 Judaism 3.3 Islam 3.3. 1 Essay on the Manners and Spirit of Nations 3.3. 2 The Drama Mahomet 3.4 Hinduism 4 Views on race and slavery 5 Appreciation and influence 6 Voltaire and Rousseau 7 Legacy 8 Chronology 9 Works 9.1 Philosophical works 9.2 Plays 9.3 Historical 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 Further reading 13.1 In French 13.2 Primary sources 14 External links Biography François - Marie Arouet was born in Paris, the youngest of the five children of François Arouet ( 19 August 1649 -- 1 January 1722 ), a lawyer who was a minor treasury official, and his wife, Marie Marguerite Daumard ( c. 1660 -- 13 July 1701 ), whose family was on the lowest rank of the French nobility. Some speculation surrounds Voltaire 's date of birth, because he claimed he was born on 20 February 1694 as the illegitimate son of a nobleman, Guérin de Rochebrune or Roquebrune. Two of his older brothers -- Armand - François and Robert -- died in infancy and his surviving brother, Armand, and sister Marguerite - Catherine were nine and seven years older, respectively. Nicknamed ' Zozo ' by his family, Voltaire was baptized on 22 November 1694, with François de Castagnère, abbé de Châteauneuf ( fr ), and Marie Daumard, the wife of his mother 's cousin, standing as godparents. He was educated by the Jesuits at the Collège Louis - le - Grand ( 1704 -- 1711 ), where he was taught Latin, theology, and rhetoric ; later in life he became fluent in Italian, Spanish, and English. By the time he left school, Voltaire had decided he wanted to be a writer, against the wishes of his father, who wanted him to become a lawyer. Voltaire, pretending to work in Paris as an assistant to a notary, spent much of his time writing poetry. When his father found out, he sent Voltaire to study law, this time in Caen, Normandy. Nevertheless, he continued to write, producing essays and historical studies. Voltaire 's wit made him popular among some of the aristocratic families with whom he mixed. In 1713, his father obtained a job for him as a secretary to the new French ambassador in the Netherlands, the marquis de Châteauneuf ( fr ), the brother of Voltaire 's godfather. At The Hague, Voltaire fell in love with a French Protestant refugee named Catherine Olympe Dunoyer ( known as ' Pimpette ' ). Their scandalous affair was discovered by de Châteauneuf and Voltaire was forced to return to France by the end of the year. Voltaire was imprisoned in the Bastille from 16 May 1717 to 15 April 1718 in a windowless cell with ten - foot thick walls. Most of Voltaire 's early life revolved around Paris. From early on, Voltaire had trouble with the authorities for critiques of the government. These activities were to result in two imprisonments and a temporary exile to England. One satirical verse, in which Voltaire accused the Régent of incest with his own daughter, led to an eleven - month imprisonment in the Bastille. The Comédie - Française had agreed in January 1717 to stage his debut play, Œdipe, and it opened in mid-November 1718, seven months after his release. Its immediate critical and financial success established his reputation. Both the Régent and King George I of Great Britain presented Voltaire with medals as a mark of their appreciation. He mainly argued for religious tolerance and freedom of thought. He campaigned to eradicate priestly and aristo - monarchical authority, and supported a constitutional monarchy that protects people 's rights. Adopts the name `` Voltaire '' The author adopted the name `` Voltaire '' in 1718, following his incarceration at the Bastille. Its origin is unclear. It is an anagram of AROVET LI, the Latinized spelling of his surname, Arouet, and the initial letters of le jeune ( `` the young '' ). According to a family tradition among the descendants of his sister, he was known as le petit volontaire ( `` determined little thing '' ) as a child, and he resurrected a variant of the name in his adult life. The name also reverses the syllables of Airvault, his family 's home town in the Poitou region. Richard Holmes supports the anagrammatic derivation of the name, but adds that a writer such as Voltaire would have intended it to also convey its connotations of speed and daring. These come from associations with words such as voltige ( acrobatics on a trapeze or horse ), volte - face ( a spinning about to face one 's enemies ), and volatile ( originally, any winged creature ). `` Arouet '' was not a noble name fit for his growing reputation, especially given that name 's resonance with à rouer ( `` to be beaten up '' ) and roué ( a débauché ). In a letter to Jean - Baptiste Rousseau in March 1719, Voltaire concludes by asking that, if Rousseau wishes to send him a return letter, he do so by addressing it to Monsieur de Voltaire. A postscript explains : `` J'ai été si malheureux sous le nom d'Arouet que j'en ai pris un autre surtout pour n'être plus confondu avec le poète Roi '', ( I was so unhappy under the name of Arouet that I have taken another, primarily so as to cease to be confused with the poet Roi. ) This probably refers to Adenes le Roi, and the ' oi ' diphthong was then pronounced like modern ' ouai ', so the similarity to ' Arouet ' is clear, and thus, it could well have been part of his rationale. Indeed, Voltaire is known also to have used at least 178 separate pen names during his lifetime. La Henriade and Mariamne Voltaire 's next play, Artémire ( de ), set in ancient Macedonia, opened on 15 February 1720. It was a flop and only fragments of the text survive. He instead turned to an epic poem about Henri IV of France that he had begun in early 1717. Denied a licence to publish, in August 1722 Voltaire headed north to find a publisher outside France. On the journey, he was accompanied by his mistress, Marie - Marguerite de Rupelmonde, a young widow. At Brussels, Voltaire and Rousseau met up for a few days, before Voltaire and his mistress continued northwards. A publisher was eventually secured in The Hague. In the Netherlands, Voltaire was struck and impressed by the openness and tolerance of Dutch society. On his return to France, he secured a second publisher in Rouen, who agreed to publish La Henriade clandestinely. After Voltaire 's recovery from a month - long smallpox infection in November 1723, the first copies were smuggled into Paris and distributed. While the poem was an instant success, Voltaire 's new play, Mariamne, was a failure when it first opened in March 1724. Heavily reworked, it opened at the Comédie - Française in April 1725 to a much - improved reception. It was among the entertainments provided at the wedding of Louis XV and Marie Leszczyńska in September 1725. Great Britain In early 1726, a young French nobleman, the chevalier de Rohan - Chabot, taunted Voltaire about his change of name, and Voltaire retorted that his name would be honoured while de Rohan would dishonour his. Infuriated, de Rohan arranged for Voltaire to be beaten up by thugs a few days later. Seeking compensation, redress, or revenge, Voltaire challenged de Rohan to a duel, but the aristocratic de Rohan family arranged for Voltaire to be arrested and imprisoned in the Bastille on 17 April 1726 without a trial or an opportunity to defend himself. Fearing an indefinite prison sentence, Voltaire suggested that he be exiled to England as an alternative punishment, which the French authorities accepted. On 2 May, he was escorted from the Bastille to Calais, where he was to embark for Britain. Elémens de la philosophie de Neuton, 1738 In England, Voltaire lived largely in Wandsworth, with acquaintances including Everard Fawkener. From December 1727 to June 1728 he lodged at Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, now commemorated by a plaque, to be nearer to his British publisher. Voltaire circulated throughout English high society, meeting Alexander Pope, John Gay, Jonathan Swift, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and many other members of the nobility and royalty. Voltaire 's exile in Great Britain greatly influenced his thinking. He was intrigued by Britain 's constitutional monarchy in contrast to French absolutism, and by the country 's greater support of the freedoms of speech and religion. He was influenced by the writers of the age, and developed an interest in earlier English literature, especially the works of Shakespeare, still relatively unknown in continental Europe. Despite pointing out his deviations from neoclassical standards, Voltaire saw Shakespeare as an example that French writers might emulate, since French drama, despite being more polished, lacked on - stage action. Later, however, as Shakespeare 's influence began growing in France, Voltaire tried to set a contrary example with his own plays, decrying what he considered Shakespeare 's barbarities. Voltaire may have been present at the funeral of Isaac Newton, and met Newton 's niece, Catherine Conduitt. In 1727 he published two essays in English, Upon the Civil Wars of France, Extracted from Curious Manuscripts, and Upon Epic Poetry of the European Nations, from Homer Down to Milton. After two and a half years in exile, Voltaire returned to France, and after a few months living in Dieppe, the authorities permitted him to return to Paris. At a dinner, French mathematician Charles Marie de La Condamine proposed buying up the lottery that was organized by the French government to pay off its debts, and Voltaire joined the consortium, earning perhaps a million livres. He invested the money cleverly and on this basis managed to convince the Court of Finances that he was of good conduct and so was able to take control of a capital inheritance from his father that had hitherto been tied up in trust. He was now indisputably rich. Further success followed, in 1732, with his play Zaïre, which when published in 1733 carried a dedication to Fawkener that praised English liberty and commerce. At this time he published his views on British attitudes toward government, literature, religion and science in a collection of essays in letter form entitled Letters Concerning the English Nation ( London, 1733 ). In 1734, they were published in French as Lettres philosophiques in Rouen. Because the publisher released the book without the approval of the royal censor and Voltaire regarded the British constitutional monarchy as more developed and more respectful of human rights ( particularly religious tolerance ) than its French counterpart, the French publication of Letters caused a huge scandal ; the book was publicly burnt and banned, and Voltaire was forced again to flee Paris. Château de Cirey In the frontispiece to Voltaire 's book on Newton 's philosophy, Émilie du Châtelet appears as Voltaire 's muse, reflecting Newton 's heavenly insights down to Voltaire. In 1733, Voltaire met Émilie du Châtelet, a married mother of three who was 12 years his junior and with whom he was to have an affair for 16 years. To avoid arrest after the publication of Letters, Voltaire took refuge at her husband 's château at Cirey - sur - Blaise, on the borders of Champagne and Lorraine. Voltaire paid for the building 's renovation, and Émilie 's husband, the Marquis du Châtelet, sometimes stayed at the château with his wife and her lover. The relationship had a significant intellectual element. Voltaire and the Marquise collected over 21,000 books, an enormous number for the time. Together, they studied these books and performed experiments in the natural sciences at Cirey, which included an attempt to determine the nature of fire. Having learned from his previous brushes with the authorities, Voltaire began his habit of keeping out of personal harm 's way and denying any awkward responsibility. He continued to write plays, such as Mérope ( or La Mérope française ) and began his long research into science and history. Again, a main source of inspiration for Voltaire were the years of his British exile, during which he had been strongly influenced by the works of Sir Isaac Newton. Voltaire strongly believed in Newton 's theories ; he performed experiments in optics at Cirey, and was one of the sources for the famous story of Newton and the apple falling from the tree, which he had learned from Newton 's niece in London and first mentioned in his Letters. Pastel by Maurice Quentin de La Tour, 1735 In the fall of 1735, Voltaire was visited by Francesco Algarotti, who was preparing a book about Newton in Italian. Partly inspired by the visit, the Marquise translated Newton 's Latin Principia into French in full, and it remained the definitive French translation into the 21st century. Both she and Voltaire were also curious about the philosophies of Gottfried Leibniz, a contemporary and rival of Newton. While Voltaire remained a firm Newtonian, the Marquise adopted certain aspects of Leibniz 's arguments against Newton. Voltaire 's own book Eléments de la philosophie de Newton ( Elements of Newton 's Philosophy ) made Newton accessible and understandable to a far greater public, and the Marquise wrote a celebratory review in the Journal des savants. Voltaire 's work was instrumental in bringing about general acceptance of Newton 's optical and gravitational theories in France. Voltaire and the Marquise also studied history, particularly those persons who had contributed to civilization. Voltaire 's second essay in English had been `` Essay upon the Civil Wars in France ''. It was followed by La Henriade, an epic poem on the French King Henri IV, glorifying his attempt to end the Catholic - Protestant massacres with the Edict of Nantes, and by a historical novel on King Charles XII of Sweden. These, along with his Letters on the English mark the beginning of Voltaire 's open criticism of intolerance and established religions. Voltaire and the Marquise also explored philosophy, particularly metaphysics, the branch of philosophy that deals with being and with what lies beyond the material realm, such as whether or not there is a God and whether people have souls. Voltaire and the Marquise analysed the Bible and concluded that much of its content was dubious. Voltaire 's critical views on religion are reflected in his belief in separation of church and state and religious freedom, ideas that he had formed after his stay in England. In August 1736, Frederick the Great, then Crown Prince of Prussia and a great admirer of Voltaire, initiated a correspondence with him. That December, Voltaire moved to Holland for two months and became acquainted with the scientists Herman Boerhaave and ' s Gravesande. From mid-1739 to mid-1740 Voltaire lived largely in Brussels, at first with the Marquise, who was unsuccessfully attempting to pursue a 60 - year - old family legal case regarding the ownership of two estates in Limburg. In July 1740, he traveled to the Hague on behalf of Frederick in an attempt to dissuade a dubious publisher, van Duren, from printing without permission Frederick 's Anti-Machiavel. In September Voltaire and Frederick ( now King ) met for the first time in Moyland Castle near Cleves and in November Voltaire was Frederick 's guest in Berlin for two weeks ; in September 1742 they met in Aix - la - Chapelle. Voltaire was sent to Frederick 's court in 1743 by the French government as an envoy and spy to gauge Frederick 's military intentions in the War of the Austrian Succession. Though deeply committed to the Marquise, Voltaire by 1744 found life at the château confining. On a visit to Paris that year, he found a new love -- his niece. At first, his attraction to Marie Louise Mignot was clearly sexual, as evidenced by his letters to her ( only discovered in 1957 ). Much later, they lived together, perhaps platonically, and remained together until Voltaire 's death. Meanwhile, the Marquise also took a lover, the Marquis de Saint - Lambert. Prussia Die Tafelrunde by Adolph von Menzel. Guests of Frederick the Great at Sanssouci, including members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and Voltaire ( third from left ). After the death of the Marquise in childbirth in September 1749, Voltaire briefly returned to Paris and in mid-1750 moved to Prussia to the court of Frederick the Great. The Prussian king ( with the permission of Louis XV ) made him a chamberlain in his household, appointed him to the Order of Merit, and gave him a salary of 20,000 French livres a year. He had rooms at Sanssouci and Charlottenburg Palace. Though life went well at first -- in 1751 he completed Micromégas, a piece of science fiction involving ambassadors from another planet witnessing the follies of humankind -- his relationship with Frederick the Great began to deteriorate after he was accused of theft and forgery by a Jewish financier, Abraham Hirschel, who had invested in Saxon government bonds, on behalf of Voltaire, at a time when Frederick was involved in sensitive diplomatic negotiations with Saxony. He encountered other difficulties : an argument with Maupertuis, the president of the Berlin Academy of Science and a former rival for Émilie 's affections, provoked Voltaire 's Diatribe du docteur Akakia ( `` Diatribe of Doctor Akakia '' ), which satirized some of Maupertuis 's theories and his abuse of power in his persecutions of a mutual acquaintance, Johann Samuel König. This greatly angered Frederick, who ordered all copies of the document burned. On 1 January 1752, Voltaire offered to resign as chamberlain and return his insignia of the Order of Merit ; at first, Frederick refused until eventually permitting Voltaire to leave in March. On a slow journey back to France, Voltaire stayed at Leipzig and Gotha for a month each, and Kassel for two weeks, arriving at Frankfurt on 31 May. The following morning, he was detained at the inn where he was staying by Frederick 's agents, who held him in the city for over three weeks while they, Voltaire and Frederick argued by letter over the return of a satirical book of poetry Frederick had lent to Voltaire. Marie Louise joined him on 9 June. She and her uncle only left Frankfurt in July after she had defended herself from the unwanted advances of one of Frederick 's agents and Voltaire 's luggage had been ransacked and valuable items taken. Voltaire 's attempts to vilify Frederick for his agents ' actions at Frankfurt were largely unsuccessful. Voltaire responded by composing Mémoires pour Servir à la Vie de M. de Voltaire, a work published after his death that paints a largely negative picture of his time spent with Frederick. However, the correspondence between them continued, and though they never met in person again, after the Seven Years ' War they largely reconciled. Geneva and Ferney Voltaire 's château at Ferney, France Voltaire 's slow progress toward Paris continued through Mainz, Mannheim, Strasbourg, and Colmar, but in January 1754 Louis XV banned him from Paris, so instead he turned for Geneva, near which he bought a large estate ( Les Délices ) in early 1755. Though he was received openly at first, the law in Geneva, which banned theatrical performances, and the publication of The Maid of Orleans against his will soured his relationship with Calvinist Genevans. In late 1758, he bought an even larger estate at Ferney, on the French side of the Franco - Swiss border. Early in 1759, Voltaire completed and published Candide, ou l'Optimisme ( Candide, or Optimism ). This satire on Leibniz 's philosophy of optimistic determinism remains the work for which Voltaire is perhaps best known. He would stay in Ferney for most of the remaining 20 years of his life, frequently entertaining distinguished guests, such as James Boswell, Adam Smith, Giacomo Casanova, and Edward Gibbon. In 1764, he published one of his best - known philosophical works, the Dictionnaire philosophique, a series of articles mainly on Christian history and dogmas, a few of which were originally written in Berlin. From 1762, he began to champion unjustly persecuted people, the case of Huguenot merchant Jean Calas being the most celebrated. Calas had been tortured to death in 1763, supposedly because he had murdered his eldest son for wanting to convert to Catholicism. His possessions were confiscated and his two daughters were taken from his widow and were forced into Catholic convents. Voltaire, seeing this as a clear case of religious persecution, managed to overturn the conviction in 1765. Voltaire was initiated into Freemasonry the month before his death. On 4 April 1778 Voltaire accompanied his close friend Benjamin Franklin into La Loge des Neuf Sœurs or Les Neuf Sœurs in Paris, France and became an Entered Apprentice Freemason. `` Benjamin Franklin... urged Voltaire to become a freemason ; and Voltaire agreed, perhaps only to please Franklin. '' Death and burial In February 1778, Voltaire returned for the first time in over 25 years to Paris, among other reasons to see the opening of his latest tragedy, Irene. The five - day journey was too much for the 83 - year - old, and he believed he was about to die on 28 February, writing `` I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition. '' However, he recovered, and in March saw a performance of Irene, where he was treated by the audience as a returning hero. House in Paris where Voltaire died He soon became ill again and died on 30 May 1778. The accounts of his deathbed have been numerous and varying, and it has not been possible to establish the details of what precisely occurred. His enemies related that he repented and accepted the last rites given by a Catholic priest, or that he died under great torment, while his adherents told how he was defiant to his last breath. According to one story of his last words, his response to a priest at his deathbed urging him to renounce Satan was `` Now is not the time for making new enemies. '' However, this appears to have originated from a joke first published in a Massachusetts newspaper in 1856, and was only attributed to Voltaire in the 1970s. Because of his well - known criticism of the Church, which he had refused to retract before his death, Voltaire was denied a Christian burial in Paris, but friends and relations managed to bury his body secretly at the Abbey of Scellières in Champagne, where Marie Louise 's brother was abbé. His heart and brain were embalmed separately. Voltaire 's tomb in the Paris Panthéon On 11 July 1791, he was enshrined in the Panthéon, after the National Assembly of France, which regarded him as a forerunner of the French Revolution, had his remains brought back to Paris. It is estimated that a million people attended the procession, which stretched throughout Paris. There was an elaborate ceremony, complete with an orchestra, and the music included a piece that André Grétry had composed especially for the event, which included a part for the `` tuba curva '' ( an instrument that originated in Roman times as the cornu but had recently been revived under a new name ). Writings History Voltaire had an enormous influence on the development of historiography through his demonstration of fresh new ways to look at the past. Guillaume de Syon argues : Voltaire recast historiography in both factual and analytical terms. Not only did he reject traditional biographies and accounts that claim the work of supernatural forces, but he went so far as to suggest that earlier historiography was rife with falsified evidence and required new investigations at the source. Such an outlook was not unique in that the scientific spirit that 18th - century intellectuals perceived themselves as invested with. A rationalistic approach was key to rewriting history. Voltaire 's best - known histories are History of Charles XII ( 1731 ), The Age of Louis XIV ( 1751 ), and his Essay on the Customs and the Spirit of the Nations ( 1756 ). He broke from the tradition of narrating diplomatic and military events, and emphasized customs, social history and achievements in the arts and sciences. The Essay on Customs traced the progress of world civilization in a universal context, thereby rejecting both nationalism and the traditional Christian frame of reference. Influenced by Bossuet 's Discourse on the Universal History ( 1682 ), he was the first scholar to make a serious attempt to write the history of the world, eliminating theological frameworks, and emphasizing economics, culture and political history. He treated Europe as a whole, rather than a collection of nations. He was the first to emphasize the debt of medieval culture to Middle Eastern civilization, but otherwise was weak on the Middle Ages. Although he repeatedly warned against political bias on the part of the historian, he did not miss many opportunities to expose the intolerance and frauds of the church over the ages. Voltaire advised scholars that anything contradicting the normal course of nature was not to be believed. Although he found evil in the historical record, he fervently believed reason and educating the illiterate masses would lead to progress. Voltaire explains his view of historiography in his article on `` History '' in Diderot 's Encyclopédie : `` One demands of modern historians more details, better ascertained facts, precise dates, more attention to customs, laws, mores, commerce, finance, agriculture, population. '' Voltaire 's histories imposed the values of the Enlightenment on the past, but at the same time he helped free historiography from antiquarianism, Eurocentrism, religious intolerance and a concentration on great men, diplomacy, and warfare. Yale professor Peter Gay says Voltaire wrote `` very good history '', citing his `` scrupulous concern for truths '', `` careful sifting of evidence '', `` intelligent selection of what is important '', `` keen sense of drama '', and `` grasp of the fact that a whole civilization is a unit of study ''. Poetry From an early age, Voltaire displayed a talent for writing verse and his first published work was poetry. He wrote two book - long epic poems, including the first ever written in French, the Henriade, and later, The Maid of Orleans, besides many other smaller pieces. The Henriade was written in imitation of Virgil, using the alexandrine couplet reformed and rendered monotonous for modern readers but it was a huge success in the 18th and early 19th century, with sixty - five editions and translations into several languages. The epic poem transformed French King Henry IV into a national hero for his attempts at instituting tolerance with his Edict of Nantes. La Pucelle, on the other hand, is a burlesque on the legend of Joan of Arc. Voltaire 's minor poems are generally considered superior to either of these two works. Prose This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( May 2017 ) Frontispiece and first page of an early English translation by T. Smollett et al. of Voltaire 's Candide, 1762 Many of Voltaire 's prose works and romances, usually composed as pamphlets, were written as polemics. Candide attacks the passivity inspired by Leibniz 's philosophy of optimism ; L'Homme aux quarante ecus ( The Man of Forty Pieces of Silver ), certain social and political ways of the time ; Zadig and others, the received forms of moral and metaphysical orthodoxy ; and some were written to deride the Bible. In these works, Voltaire 's ironic style, free of exaggeration, is apparent, particularly the restraint and simplicity of the verbal treatment. Candide in particular is the best example of his style. Voltaire also has, in common with Jonathan Swift, the distinction of paving the way for science fiction 's philosophical irony, particularly in his Micromégas and the vignette Plato 's Dream ( 1756 ). Voltaire at Frederick the Great 's Sanssouci, by Pierre Charles Baquoy In general, his criticism and miscellaneous writing show a similar style to Voltaire 's other works. Almost all of his more substantive works, whether in verse or prose, are preceded by prefaces of one sort or another, which are models of his caustic yet conversational tone. In a vast variety of nondescript pamphlets and writings, he displays his skills at journalism. In pure literary criticism his principal work is the Commentaire sur Corneille, although he wrote many more similar works -- sometimes ( as in his Life and Notices of Molière ) independently and sometimes as part of his Siècles. Voltaire 's works, especially his private letters, frequently contain the word `` l'infâme '' and the expression `` écrasez l'infâme '', or `` crush the infamous ''. The phrase refers to abuses of the people by royalty and the clergy that Voltaire saw around him, and the superstition and intolerance that the clergy bred within the people. He had felt these effects in his own exiles, the burnings of his books and those of many others, and in the hideous sufferings of Jean Calas and François - Jean de la Barre. He stated in one of his most famous quotes that `` Superstition sets the whole world in flames ; philosophy quenches them. '' The most oft - cited Voltaire quotation is apocryphal. He is incorrectly credited with writing, `` I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. '' These were not his words, but rather those of Evelyn Beatrice Hall, written under the pseudonym S.G. Tallentyre in her 1906 biographical book The Friends of Voltaire. Hall intended to summarize in her own words Voltaire 's attitude towards Claude Adrien Helvétius and his controversial book De l'esprit, but her first - person expression was mistaken for an actual quotation from Voltaire. Her interpretation does capture the spirit of Voltaire 's attitude towards Helvetius ; it had been said Hall 's summary was inspired by a quotation found in a 1770 Voltaire letter to an Abbot le Riche, in which he was reported to have said, `` I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write. '' Nevertheless, scholars believe there must have again been misinterpretation, as the letter does not seem to contain any such quote. Voltaire 's first major philosophical work in his battle against `` l'infâme '' was the Traité sur la tolérance ( Treatise on Tolerance ), exposing the Calas affair, along with the tolerance exercised by other faiths and in other eras ( for example, by the Jews, the Romans, the Greeks and the Chinese ). Then, in his Dictionnaire philosophique, containing such articles as `` Abraham '', `` Genesis '', `` Church Council '', he wrote about what he perceived as the human origins of dogmas and beliefs, as well as inhuman behavior of religious and political institutions in shedding blood over the quarrels of competing sects. Amongst other targets, Voltaire criticized France 's colonial policy in North America, dismissing the vast territory of New France as `` a few acres of snow '' ( `` quelques arpents de neige '' ). Letters Voltaire also engaged in an enormous amount of private correspondence during his life, totalling over 20,000 letters. Theodore Besterman 's collected edition of these letters, completed only in 1964, fills 102 volumes. One historian called the letters `` a feast not only of wit and eloquence but of warm friendship, humane feeling, and incisive thought. '' In Voltaire 's correspondence with Catherine the Great he derided democracy. He wrote, `` Almost nothing great has ever been done in the world except by the genius and firmness of a single man combating the prejudices of the multitude. '' Religious views Part of a series on Criticism of religion By religion Buddhism Christianity Christian fundamentalism Catholic Catholicism Protestantism Latter Day Saint movement Mormonism Jehovah 's Witnesses Orthodoxy Seventh - day Adventist Unification Church Westboro Baptist Church Hinduism Islam Islamism Twelver Shi'ism Wahhabism Jainism Judaism Conservative Judaism New religious movement Scientology Sikhism Yazdânism Zoroastrianism By religious figure Aisha Charles Taze Russell Ellen White Jesus Moses Muhammad Saul By text Bible Quran Hadiths Mormon sacred texts Book of Mormon Talmud Religious violence Buddhism Christianity Mormonism Judaism Islam Persecution By Christians Sectarian violence Segregation Terrorism Christian Hindu Islamic Sikh Jewish War In Islam In Judaism Related topics Abuse Apostasy In Islam In Christianity Criticism of atheism Criticism of monotheism Sexuality Slavery Voltaire at 70 ; engraving from 1843 edition of his Philosophical Dictionary Like other key Enlightenment thinkers, Voltaire was a deist, expressing the idea : `` What is faith ? Is it to believe that which is evident ? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason. '' Voltaire held mixed views of the Abrahamic religions but had a favourable view of Hinduism. In a 1763 essay, Voltaire supported the toleration of other religions and ethnicities : `` It does not require great art, or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further : I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What ? The Turk my brother ? The Chinaman my brother ? The Jew ? The Siam ? Yes, without doubt ; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God ? '' In one of his many denunciations of priests of every religious sect, Voltaire describes them as those who `` rise from an incestuous bed, manufacture a hundred versions of God, then eat and drink God, then piss and shit God. '' Christianity In a letter to Frederick II, King of Prussia, dated 5 January 1767, he wrote about Christianity : La nôtre ( religion ) est sans contredit la plus ridicule, la plus absurde, et la plus sanguinaire qui ait jamais infecté le monde. `` Our ( religion ) is assuredly the most ridiculous, the most absurd and the most bloody religion which has ever infected this world. Your Majesty will do the human race an eternal service by extirpating this infamous superstition, I do not say among the rabble, who are not worthy of being enlightened and who are apt for every yoke ; I say among honest people, among men who think, among those who wish to think.... My one regret in dying is that I can not aid you in this noble enterprise, the finest and most respectable which the human mind can point out... '' In La bible enfin expliquée, he expressed the following attitude to lay reading of the Bible : It is characteristic of fanatics who read the holy scriptures to tell themselves : God killed, so I must kill ; Abraham lied, Jacob deceived, Rachel stole : so I must steal, deceive, lie. But, wretch, you are neither Rachel, nor Jacob, nor Abraham, nor God ; you are just a mad fool, and the popes who forbade the reading of the Bible were extremely wise. Voltaire 's opinion of the Christian Bible was mixed. Although influenced by Socinian works such as the Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum, Voltaire 's skeptical attitude to the Bible separated him from Unitarian theologians like Fausto Sozzini or even Biblical - political writers like John Locke. His statements on religion also brought down on him the fury of the Jesuits and in particular Claude - Adrien Nonnotte. This did not hinder his religious practice, though it did win for him a bad reputation in certain religious circles. The deeply Christian Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote to his father the year of Voltaire 's death, saying, `` The arch - scoundrel Voltaire has finally kicked the bucket... ''. Voltaire was later deemed to influence Edward Gibbon in claiming that Christianity was a contributor to the fall of the Roman Empire, in his book The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. As Christianity advances, disasters befall the ( Roman ) empire -- arts, science, literature, decay -- barbarism and all its revolting concomitants are made to seem the consequences of its decisive triumph -- and the unwary reader is conducted, with matchless dexterity, to the desired conclusion -- the abominable Manicheism of Candide, and, in fact, of all the productions of Voltaire 's historic school -- viz., `` that instead of being a merciful, ameliorating, and benignant visitation, the religion of Christians would rather seem to be a scourge sent on man by the author of all evil. '' However, Voltaire also acknowledged the self - sacrifice of Christians. He wrote : `` Perhaps there is nothing greater on earth than the sacrifice of youth and beauty, often of high birth, made by the gentle sex in order to work in hospitals for the relief of human misery, the sight of which is so revolting to our delicacy. Peoples separated from the Roman religion have imitated but imperfectly so generous a charity. '' Yet `` His hatred of religion increased with the passage of years. The attack, launched at first against clericalism and theocracy, ended in a furious assault upon Holy Scripture, the dogmas of the Church, and even upon the person of Jesus Christ Himself, who was depicted now as a degenerate ''. The reasoning of which may be summed up in his well - known quote, `` Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities ''. Judaism According to Orthodox rabbi Joseph Telushkin, the most significant Enlightenment hostility against Judaism was found in Voltaire ; thirty of the 118 articles in his Dictionnaire philosophique dealt with Jews and described them in consistently negative ways. For example in Voltaire 's A Philosophical Dictionary, he wrote of Jews : `` In short, we find in them only an ignorant and barbarous people, who have long united the most sordid avarice with the most detestable superstition and the most invincible hatred for every people by whom they are tolerated and enriched. '' On the other hand, Peter Gay, a contemporary authority on the Enlightenment, also points to Voltaire 's remarks ( for instance, that the Jews were more tolerant than the Christians ) in the Traité sur la tolérance and surmises that `` Voltaire struck at the Jews to strike at Christianity ''. Whatever anti-semitism Voltaire may have felt, Gay suggests, derived from negative personal experience. Bertram Schwarzbach 's far more detailed studies of Voltaire 's dealings with Jewish people throughout his life concluded that he was anti-biblical, not anti-semitic. His remarks on the Jews and their `` superstitions '' were essentially no different from his remarks on Christians. Telushkin states that Voltaire did not limit his attack to aspects of Judaism that Christianity used as a foundation, repeatedly making it clear that he despised Jews. Arthur Hertzberg claims that Gay 's second suggestion is also untenable, as Voltaire himself denied its validity when he remarked that he had `` forgotten about much larger bankruptcies through Christians ''. Some authors link Voltaire 's anti-Judaism to his polygenism. According to Joxe Azurmendi this anti-Judaism has a relative importance in Voltaire 's philosophy of history. However, Voltaire 's anti-Judaism influences later authors like Ernest Renan. According to the historian Will Durant, Voltaire had initially condemned the persecution of Jews on several occasions including in his work Henriade. As stated by Durant, Voltaire had praised the simplicity, sobriety, regularity, and industry of Jews. However, subsequently, Voltaire had become strongly anti-Semitic after some regrettable personal financial transactions and quarrels with Jewish financiers. In his Essai sur les moeurs Voltaire had denounced the ancient Hebrews using strong language ; a Catholic priest had protested against this censure. The anti-Semitic passages in Voltaire 's Dictionnaire philosophique were criticized by Issac Pinto in 1762. Subsequently, Voltaire agreed with the criticism of his anti-Semitic views and stated that he had been `` wrong to attribute to a whole nation the vices of some individuals '' ; he also promised to revise the objectionable passages for forthcoming editions of the Dictionnaire philosophique, but failed to do so. Islam Voltaire 's views about Islam remained negative ; he considered the Qur'an to be ignorant of the laws of physics. In a 1740 letter to Frederick II of Prussia, Voltaire ascribes to Muhammad a brutality that `` is assuredly nothing any man can excuse '' and suggests that his following stemmed from superstition and lack of enlightenment. Voltaire continued in his letter, `` But that a camel - merchant should stir up insurrection in his village ; that in league with some miserable followers he persuades them that he talks with the angel Gabriel ; that he boasts of having been carried to heaven, where he received in part this unintelligible book, each page of which makes common sense shudder ; that, to pay homage to this book, he delivers his country to iron and flame ; that he cuts the throats of fathers and kidnaps daughters ; that he gives to the defeated the choice of his religion or death : this is assuredly nothing any man can excuse, at least if he was not born a Turk, or if superstition has not extinguished all natural light in him. '' -- Referring to Muhammad, in a letter to Frederick II of Prussia ( December 1740 ), published in Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire, Vol. 7 ( 1869 ), edited by Georges Avenel, p. 105 In 1748, after having read Henri de Boulainvilliers and George Sale, he wrote again about Mohammed and Islam in an article, `` De l'Alcoran et de Mahomet '' ( On the Quran and on Mohammed ). In the article, Voltaire maintained that Mohammed was a `` sublime charlatan '' Drawing also on complementary information in the `` Oriental Library '' of Herbelot, Voltaire, according to René Pomeau, had a judgement of the Qur'an where he found the book in spite of `` the contradictions, the absurdities, the anachronisms '', `` rhapsody, without connection, without order, and without art ''. Thus he `` henceforward conceded '' that `` if his book was bad for our times and for us, it was very good for his contemporaries, and his religion even more so. It must be admitted that he removed almost all of Asia from idolatry '' and that `` it was difficult for such a simple and wise religion, taught by a man who was constantly victorious, could hardly fail to subjugate a portion of the earth. '' He considered that `` its civil laws are good ; its dogma is admirable which it has in common with ours '' but that `` his means are shocking ; deception and murder ''. Essay on the Manners and spirit of Nations Essay on the Manners and Spirit of Nations ( French : Essai sur les mœurs et l'esprit des nations ) is a work of Voltaire, published for the first time in its entirety in 1756. In this work, Voltaire deals with the history of Europe before Charlemagne to the dawn of the age of Louis XIV, also evoking that of the colonies and the East. As a historian he devoted several chapters to Islam, Voltaire highlighted the Arabian, Turkish courts, and conducts. Here he called Mohammed a `` poet '', and furthermore he was not an illiterate. As a `` legislator '' who `` changed the face of part of Europe, one half of Asia '', In the chapter VI, Voltaire finds similarities between Arabs and ancient Hebrews, that they both kept running to battle in the name of god, and sharing the passion for booty and spoils. Voltaire continues that, `` It is to be believed that Mohammed, like all enthusiasts, violently struck by his ideas, first presented them in good faith, strengthened them with fantasy, fooled himself in fooling others, and supported through necessary deceptions a doctrine which he considered good. '' He thus compares `` the genius of the Arab people '' with `` the genius of the ancient Romans ''. The drama Mahomet Main article : Mahomet ( play ) The tragedy Fanaticism, or Mahomet the Prophet ( French : Le fanatisme, ou Mahomet le Prophete ) was written in 1736 by Voltaire. The play is a study of religious fanaticism and self - serving manipulation. The character Muhammad orders the murder of his critics. Voltaire described the play as `` written in opposition to the founder of a false and barbarous sect ''. Voltaire described Muhammad as an `` impostor '', a `` false prophet '', a `` fanatic '' and a `` hypocrite ''. Defending the play, Voltaire said that he `` tried to show in it into what horrible excesses fanaticism, led by an impostor, can plunge weak minds ''. When Voltaire wrote in 1742 to César de Missy, he described Mohammed as a `` deceitful character. '' In his play, Mohammed was `` whatever trickery can invent that is most atrocious and whatever fanaticism can accomplish that is most horrifying. Mahomet here is nothing other than Tartuffe with armies at his command. '' After later having judged that he had made Mohammed in his play `` somewhat nastier than he really was '', Voltaire claims that Muhammad stole the idea of an angel weighing both men and women from Zoroastrians, who are often referred to as `` Magi ''. Voltaire continues about Islam that `` Nothing is more terrible than a people who, having nothing to lose, fight in the united spirit of rapine and of religion. '' In a 1745 letter recommending the play to Pope Benedict XIV, Voltaire described Muhammad as `` the founder of a false and barbarous sect '' and `` a false prophet. '' Voltaire wrote that `` Your holiness will pardon the liberty taken by one of the lowest of the faithful, though a zealous admirer of virtue, of submitting to the head of the true religion this performance, written in opposition to the founder of a false and barbarous sect. To whom could I with more propriety inscribe a satire on the cruelty and errors of a false prophet, than to the vicar and representative of a God of truth and mercy ? ''. His view was modified slightly for Essai sur les Moeurs et l'Esprit des Nations, although they remained negative. In 1751, Voltaire performed his play Mohamet once again, with great success. Hinduism Commenting on the sacred texts of the Hindus, the Vedas, Voltaire observed : The Veda was the most precious gift for which the West had ever been indebted to the East. He regarded Hindus as `` ( a ) peaceful and innocent people, equally incapable of hurting others or of defending themselves ''. Voltaire was himself a supporter of animal rights and was a vegetarian. He used the antiquity of Hinduism to land what he saw as a devastating blow to the Bible 's claims and acknowledged that the Hindus ' treatment of animals showed a shaming alternative to the immorality of European imperialists. Views on race and slavery Voltaire rejected the biblical Adam and Eve story and was a polygenist who speculated that each race had entirely separate origins. According to William Cohen, like most other polygenists, Voltaire believed that because of their different origins blacks did not entirely share the natural humanity of whites. According to David Allen Harvey, Voltaire often invoked racial differences as a means to attack religious orthodoxy, and the Biblical account of creation. His most famous remark on slavery is found in Candide, where the hero is horrified to learn `` at what price we eat sugar in Europe '' after coming across a slave in French Guinea who has been mutilated for escaping, who opines that, if all human beings have common origins as the Bible taught, it makes them cousins, concluding that `` no one could treat their relatives more horribly ''. Elsewhere, he wrote caustically about `` whites and Christians ( who ) proceed to purchase negroes cheaply, in order to sell them dear in America ''. Voltaire has been accused of supporting the slave trade as per a letter attributed to him, although it has been suggested that this letter is a forgery `` since no satisfying source attests to the letter 's existence. '' In his Philosophical Dictionary, Voltaire endorses Montesquieu 's criticism of the slave trade : Montesquieu was almost always in error with the learned, because he was not learned, but he was almost always right against the fanatics and the promoters of slavery. Appreciation and influence According to Victor Hugo : `` To name Voltaire is to characterize the entire eighteenth century. '' Goethe regarded Voltaire to be the greatest literary figure in modern times, and possibly of all times. According to Diderot, Voltaire 's influence on posterity would extend far into the future. Napoleon commented that till he was sixteen he `` would have fought for Rousseau against the friends of Voltaire, today it is the opposite... The more I read Voltaire the more I love him. He is a man always reasonable, never a charlatan, never a fanatic. '' Frederick the Great commented on his good fortune for having lived in the age of Voltaire, and corresponded with him throughout his reign until Voltaire 's death. Catherine the Great had been reading Voltaire for sixteen years prior to becoming Empress of Russia in 1762. In October 1763, she began a correspondence with the philosopher that continued till his death. The content of these letters has been described as being akin to a student writing to a teacher. Upon Voltaire 's death, the Empress purchased his library, which was then transported and placed in The Hermitage. In England, Voltaire 's views influenced Godwin, Paine, Mary Wollstonecraft, Bentham, Byron, and Shelley. Macaulay made note of the fear that Voltaire 's very name incited in tyrants and fanatics. In his native Paris, Voltaire was viewed as the defender of Jean Calas and Pierre Sirven. Although he failed in securing the annulment of la Barre 's execution for `` blasphemies '' against Christianity, despite a protracted campaign, the criminal code that sanctioned the execution was revised during Voltaire 's lifetime. In 1764, Voltaire successfully intervened and secured the release of Claude Chamont for the crime of attending Protestant services. When Comte de Lally was executed for treason in 1766, Voltaire wrote a 300 - page document absolving de Lally. Subsequently, in 1778, the judgment against de Lally was expunged just before Voltaire 's death. The Genevan Protestant minister Pomaret once said to Voltaire, `` You seem to attack Christianity, and yet you do the work of a Christian. '' Frederick the Great noted the significance of a philosopher capable of influencing judges to change their unjust decisions, commenting that this alone is sufficient to ensure the prominence of Voltaire as a humanitarian. Most architects of modern America were adherents of Voltaire 's views. According to Will Durant : Italy had a Renaissance, and Germany had a Reformation, but France had Voltaire ; he was for his country both Renaissance and Reformation, and half the Revolution. He was first and best in his time in his conception and writing of history, in the grace of his poetry, in the charm and wit of his prose, in the range of his thought and his influence. His spirit moved like a flame over the continent and the century, and stirs a million souls in every generation. Voltaire and Rousseau Voltaire 's junior contemporary Jean Jacques Rousseau commented on how Voltaire 's book Letters on the English played a great role in his intellectual development. Having written some literary works and also some music, in December 1745 Rousseau wrote a letter introducing himself to Voltaire, who was by then the most prominent literary figure in France, to which Voltaire replied with a polite response. Subsequently, when Rousseau sent Voltaire a copy of his book Discourse on Inequality, Voltaire replied, noting his disagreement with the views expressed in the book : No one has ever employed so much intellect to persuade men to be beasts. In reading your work one is seized with a desire to walk on four paws ( marcher à quatre pattes ). However, as it is more than sixty years since I lost that habit, I feel, unfortunately, that it is impossible for me to resume it. Subsequently, commenting on Rousseau 's romantic novel Julie, or the New Heloise, Voltaire stated : No more about Jean - Jacques ' romance if you please. I have read it, to my sorrow, and it would be to his if I had time to say what I think of this silly book. Voltaire speculated that the first half of Julie had been written in a brothel and the second half in a lunatic asylum. In his Lettres sur La Nouvelle Heloise, written under a pseudonym, Voltaire offered criticism highlighting grammatical mistakes in the book. Paris recognized Voltaire 's hand and judged the patriarch to be bitten by jealousy. In reviewing Rousseau 's book Emile after its publication, Voltaire dismissed it as `` a hodgepodge of a silly wet nurse in four volumes, with forty pages against Christianity, among the boldest ever known. '' However, he expressed admiration for the section in this book titled Profession of Faith of the Savoyard Vicar, calling it `` fifty good pages... it is regrettable that they should have been written by... such a knave. '' He went on to predict that Emile would be forgotten after a month. In 1764, Rousseau published Lettres de la montagne, containing nine letters on religion and politics. In the fifth letter he wondered why Voltaire had not been able to imbue the Genevan councilors, who frequently met him, `` with that spirit of tolerance which he preaches without cease, and of which he sometimes has need ''. The letter continued with an imaginary speech delivered by Voltaire, imitating his literary style, in which he accepts authorship for the book Sermon of the Fifty -- a book whose authorship Voltaire had repeatedly denied because it contained many heresies. In 1772, when a priest sent Rousseau a pamphlet denouncing Voltaire, Rousseau responded with a defense of Voltaire : He has said and done so many good things that we should draw the curtain over his irregularities. In 1778, when Voltaire was given unprecedented honors at the Théâtre - Français, an acquaintance of Rousseau ridiculed the event. This was met by a sharp retort from Rousseau : How dare you mock the honors rendered to Voltaire in the temple of which he is the god, and by the priests who for fifty years have been living off his masterpieces ? On 2 July 1778, Rousseau died one month after Voltaire 's death. In October 1794, Rousseau 's remains were moved to the Panthéon, where they were placed near the remains of Voltaire. Louis XVI, while incarcerated in the Temple, had remarked that Rousseau and Voltaire had `` destroyed France '', by which he meant his dynasty. Legacy Voltaire, by Jean - Antoine Houdon, 1778. National Gallery of Art Voltaire perceived the French bourgeoisie to be too small and ineffective, the aristocracy to be parasitic and corrupt, the commoners as ignorant and superstitious, and the Church as a static and oppressive force useful only on occasion as a counterbalance to the rapacity of kings, although all too often, even more rapacious itself. Voltaire distrusted democracy, which he saw as propagating the idiocy of the masses. Voltaire long thought only an enlightened monarch could bring about change, given the social structures of the time and the extremely high rates of illiteracy, and that it was in the king 's rational interest to improve the education and welfare of his subjects. But his disappointments and disillusions with Frederick the Great changed his philosophy somewhat, and soon gave birth to one of his most enduring works, his novella Candide, ou l'Optimisme ( Candide, or Optimism, 1759 ), which ends with a new conclusion : `` It is up to us to cultivate our garden. '' His most polemical and ferocious attacks on intolerance and religious persecutions indeed began to appear a few years later. Candide was also burned and Voltaire jokingly claimed the actual author was a certain ' Demad ' in a letter, where he reaffirmed the main polemical stances of the text. He is remembered and honoured in France as a courageous polemicist who indefatigably fought for civil rights ( as the right to a fair trial and freedom of religion ) and who denounced the hypocrisies and injustices of the Ancien Régime. The Ancien Régime involved an unfair balance of power and taxes between the three Estates : clergy and nobles on one side, the commoners and middle class, who were burdened with most of the taxes, on the other. He particularly had admiration for the ethics and government as exemplified by the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Voltaire is also known for many memorable aphorisms, such as `` Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer '' ( `` If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him '' ), contained in a verse epistle from 1768, addressed to the anonymous author of a controversial work on The Three Impostors. But far from being the cynical remark it is often taken for, it was meant as a retort to atheistic opponents such as d'Holbach, Grimm, and others. He has had his detractors among his later colleagues. The Scottish Victorian writer Thomas Carlyle argued that `` Voltaire read history, not with the eye of devout seer or even critic, but through a pair of mere anti-catholic spectacles. '' The town of Ferney, where Voltaire lived out the last 20 years of his life, was officially named Ferney - Voltaire in honour of its most famous resident in 1878. His château is a museum. Voltaire 's library is preserved intact in the National Library of Russia at Saint Petersburg, Russia. In the Zurich of 1916, the theatre and performance group who would become the early avant - garde movement Dada named their theater The Cabaret Voltaire. A late - 20th - century industrial music group then named themselves after the theater. Astronomers have bestowed his name to the Voltaire crater on Deimos and the asteroid 5676 Voltaire. Voltaire was also known to have been an advocate for coffee, as he was reported to have drunk it 50 -- 72 times per day. It has been suggested that high amounts of caffeine acted as a mental stimulant to his creativity. His great - grand - niece was the mother of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Catholic philosopher and Jesuit priest. His book Candide was listed as one of The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written, by Martin Seymour - Smith. In the 1950s, the bibliographer and translator Theodore Besterman started to collect, transcribe and publish all of Voltaire 's writings. He founded the Voltaire Institute and Museum in Geneva where he began publishing collected volumes of Voltaire 's correspondence. On his death in 1976, he left his collection to the University of Oxford, where the Voltaire Foundation became established as a department. The Foundation has continued to publish the Complete Works of Voltaire, a complete chronological series which is expected to reach completion in 2018, reaching around 200 volumes, fifty years after the series began. It also publishes the series Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment, begun by Bestermann as Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, which has reached more than 500 volumes. Chronology Timeline of François Marie Arouet ( `` Voltaire '' ) ( 1694 -- 1778 ) Works Philosophical works Letters concerning the English nation ( London, 1733 ) ( French version entitled Lettres philosophiques sur les Anglais, Rouen, 1734 ), revised as Letters on the English ( circa 1778 ) Le Mondain ( 1736 ) Sept Discours en Vers sur l'Homme ( 1738 ) Elements of the Philosophy of Newton ( 1745 ) Zadig ( 1747 ) Micromégas ( 1752 ) Candide ( 1759 ) Traité sur la tolérance ( 1763 ) Ce qui plaît aux dames ( 1764 ) Dictionnaire philosophique ( 1764 ) Questions sur les Miracles ( 1765 ) Idées républicaines ( 1765 ) L'Ingénu ( 1767 ) La Princesse de Babylone ( 1768 ) Des singularités de la nature ( 1768 ) Plays Voltaire wrote between fifty and sixty plays, including a few unfinished ones. Among them are these : Œdipe ( 1718 ) Mariamne ( 1724 ) Éryphile ( 1732 ) Zaïre ( 1732 ) Mahomet ( 1741 ) Mérope ( 1743 ) La princesse de Navarre ( 1745 ) Nanine ( 1749 ) L'Orphelin de la Chine ( 1755 ) Socrate ( published 1759 ) La Femme Qui a Raison ( 1759 ) Irène ( 1778 ) Historical History of Charles XII, King of Sweden ( 1731 ) The Age of Louis XIV ( 1751 ) The Age of Louis XV ( 1746 -- 1752 ) Annals of the Empire -- Charlemagne, AD 742 -- Henry VII 1313, Vol. I ( 1754 ) Annals of the Empire -- Louis of Bavaria, 1315 to Ferdinand II 1631 Vol. II ( 1754 ) Essay on Universal History, the Manners, and Spirit of Nations ( 1756 ) History of the Russian Empire Under Peter the Great ( Vol. I 1759 ; Vol. II 1763 ) See also Poetry portal Biography portal Classical liberalism Contributions to liberal theory Mononymous persons Boulevard Voltaire Voltaire Foundation Notes Jump up ^ Contrary to the idea that Voltaire wrote the Letters in English, they were written in French and then translated into English by John Lockman. Jump up ^ Diderot, in a letter to E.M. Falconet, dated 15 February 1766 : Pile assumptions on assumptions ; accumulate wars on wars ; make interminable disturbances succeed to interminable disturbances ; let the universe be inundated by a general spirit of confusion ; and it would take a hundred thousand years for the works and the name of Voltaire to be lost. Jump up ^ Macaulay, in his essay on Frederick the Great : In truth, of all the intellectual weapons that have been wielded by man, the most terrible was the mockery of Voltaire. Bigots and tyrants, who had never been moved by the wailings and cursing of millions, turned pale at his name. Jump up ^ `` From that haven of neighborly peace their spirits rose to renew their war for the soul of the Revolution, of France, and of Western man, '' writes Will Durant. Jump up ^ In a celebrated letter, dated 2 April 1764, Voltaire had predicted the future occurrence of the French Revolution which he characterized as `` a splendid outburst. '' Commenting on this, Will Durant wrote : Yet... he never for a moment supposed that in this `` splendid outburst '' all France would accept enthusiastically the philosophy of this queer Jean - Jacques Rousseau who, from Geneva and Paris, was thrilling the world with sentimental romances and revolutionary pamphlets. The complex soul of France seemed to have divided itself into these two men, so different and yet so French. Nietzsche speaks of `` la gaya scienza, the light feet, wit, fire, grace, strong logic, arrogant intellectuality, the dance of the stars '' -- surely he was thinking of Voltaire. Now beside Voltaire put Rousseau : all heat and fantasy, a man with noble and jejune visions, the idol of la bourgeois gentile - femme, announcing like Pascal that the heart has its reason which the head can never understand. References Jump up ^ `` Voltaire ''. Random House Webster 's Unabridged Dictionary. Jump up ^ Biography online Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 9 -- 14 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 9 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 10 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 12 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 24 -- 25 Jump up ^ Liukkonen, Petri. `` Voltaire ''. Books and Writers ( kirjasto.sci.fi ). Finland : Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 17 February 2015. Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 32 -- 33 ^ Jump up to : Pearson, p. 36 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 36 -- 37 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 43, 45 Jump up ^ Fitzpatrick, Martin ( 2000 ). `` Toleration and the Enlightenment Movement '' in Grell / Porter, Toleration in Enlightenment Europe, p. 64, footnote 91, Cambridge University Press Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 49 -- 50 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 50 -- 52 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 52 ^ Jump up to : Shank, J.B. ( 2009 ). `` Voltaire ''. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Jump up ^ Marvin Perry et al ( 2015 ), Western Civilization : Ideas, Politics, and Society, Volume II, ISBN 978 - 1 - 305 - 09142 - 9, p. 427 Jump up ^ Christopher Thacker ( 1971 ). Voltaire. Profiles in literature series. Taylor & Francis. p. 3. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7100 - 7020 - 3. Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 17 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 24 Jump up ^ Holmes, Richard ( 2000 ). Sidetracks : explorations of a romantic biographer. HarperCollins. pp. 345 -- 66. and `` Voltaire 's Grin '' in New York Review of Books, 30 November 1995, pp. 49 -- 55 Jump up ^ -- `` Voltaire to Jean Baptiste Rousseau, c. 1 March 1719 ''. Electronic Enlightenment. Ed. Robert McNamee et al. Vers. 2.1. University of Oxford. 2010. Web. 20 June 2010. Jump up ^ -- `` The appendixes offer even more : a listing of Voltaire 's and Daniel Defoe 's numerous pseudonyms ( 178 and 198, respectively )... '' Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 54 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 55 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 57 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 59 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 60 -- 61 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 61 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 62 ^ Jump up to : Pearson, p. 64 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 65 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 66 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 66 -- 67 ^ Jump up to : `` The Life of Voltaire ''. Thegreatdebate.org.uk. Retrieved 3 August 2009. Jump up ^ `` Voltaire in England '' Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 67 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 76, 80, 83 ^ Jump up to : Pearson, p. 82 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 78 -- 82 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 69 -- 70 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 77 Jump up ^ Dobre and Nyden suggest that there is no clear evidence that Voltaire was present ; see Mihnea Dobre, Tammy Nyden ( 2013 ). Cartesian Empiricism. Springer. p. 89. ISBN 978 - 94 - 007 - 7690 - 6. Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 85 Jump up ^ Shank, J.B. ( 2008 ). The Newton Wars. U of Chicago Press. p. 260. ISBN 9780226749471. Jump up ^ Davidson, Ian ( 2010 ). Voltaire : A Life. Profile Books, London. p. 76. ISBN 9781846682261. Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 87 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 92 -- 93, 95 ^ Jump up to : Pearson, p. 97 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 99 Jump up ^ Shank, J.B. ( 2008 ). The Newton Wars and the Beginning of the French Enlightenment. University of Chicago Press. p. 366. ISBN 978 - 0 - 226 - 74945 - 7. Jump up ^ Schiff, Stacy. `` ' Voltaire In Love ' : An Ardent, Intellectual Affair ''. npr books. Retrieved 22 June 2014. Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 117 -- 21 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 122 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 155, 157 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 128, 138 -- 39 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 138 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 137 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 153 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 140 -- 41 Jump up ^ Bryant, Walter W. ( 1907 ). A History of Astronomy. p. 53. Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 129 -- 30 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 143 -- 44 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 151 -- 52 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 162 -- 64 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 166 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 167 -- 70 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 173 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 175 -- 77 Jump up ^ Ian Davidson ( 1979 ). Voltaire in Exile. Grove Press. p. 6. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8021 - 4236 - 8. Jump up ^ Will and Ariel Durant ( 2011 ). The Age of Voltaire. Simon & Schuster. p. 392. ISBN 9781451647662. Jump up ^ Ian Davidson ( 1979 ). Voltaire in Exile. Grove Press. p. 7. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8021 - 4236 - 8. Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 214 -- 17 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 218 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 219 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 217 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 220 -- 21 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 221 -- 22 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 225 -- 229 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 229 -- 230 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 232 -- 35 Jump up ^ Mitford, Nancy ( 1970 ) Frederick the Great pp. 184 -- 85, 269 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 236 -- 37 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 238 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 244 -- 45 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 247 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 263 -- 64 Jump up ^ The Scottish diarist Boswell recorded their conversations in 1764, which are published in Boswell and the Grand Tour. Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 284 -- 90 Jump up ^ Jasper Ridley ( 2011 ). The Freemasons : A History of the World 's Most Powerful Secret Society. Skyhorse Publishing Inc. p. 141. ISBN 978 - 1 - 61145 - 010 - 1. Jump up ^ `` I did not know that : Mason Facts ''. Archived from the original on 12 January 2007. Jump up ^ `` Voltaire on British Columbia Grand Lodge Site ''. Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 364 -- 65, 371 -- 72 Jump up ^ Peter Gay, The Enlightenment -- An Interpretation, Volume 2 : The Science of Freedom, Wildwood House, London, 1973, pp. 88 -- 89. Jump up ^ Bulston, Michael E ( 2007 ). Teach What You Believe. Paulist Press. p. 105. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8091 - 4481 - 5. Jump up ^ http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/08/13/no-enemies/ Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 386 -- 87 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 388 -- 89 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 388, 391 Jump up ^ Pearson, pp. 411 -- 16 Jump up ^ Grove 's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed, 1954 ; `` Cornu '' article Jump up ^ Guillaume de Syon, `` Voltaire, '' in Kelly Boyd. ed. ( 1999 ). Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing, vol 2. Taylor & Francis. pp. 1270 -- 72. ISBN 9781884964336. CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Sakmann, Paul ( 1971 ). `` The Problems of Historical Method and of Philosophy of History in Voltaire ''. History and Theory. 11 ( 4 ) : 24 -- 59. JSTOR 2504245. Jump up ^ Gay, Peter ( 1988 ) Voltaire 's Politics Jump up ^ Gay, Peter ( 1957 ). `` Carl Becker 's Heavenly City ''. Political Science Quarterly. 72 : 182 -- 99. JSTOR 2145772. Jump up ^ Palmer, R.R. ; Colton, Joel ( 1950 ). A History of the Modern World. McGraw - Hill, Inc. ISBN 0 - 07 - 040826 - 2. Jump up ^ Geoffrey Parrinder. The Routledge Dictionary of Religious and Spiritual Quotations. Routledge. p. 24. Jump up ^ Boller, Jr., Paul F. ; George, John ( 1989 ). They Never Said It : A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions. New York : Oxford University Press. ISBN 0 - 19 - 505541 - 1. Jump up ^ Charles Wirz, archivist at the Voltaire Institute and Museum in Geneva, recalled in 1994, that Hall ' wrongly ' placed this quotation between speech marks in two of her works about Voltaire, recognising expressly the quotation in question was not one, in a letter of 9 May 1939, which was published in 1943 in volume LVIII under the title `` Voltaire never said it '' ( pp. 534 -- 35 ) of the review Modern language notes, Johns Hopkins Press, 1943, Baltimore. An extract from the letter : ' The phrase `` I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it '' which you have found in my book Voltaire in His Letters is my own expression and should not have been put in inverted commas. Please accept my apologies for having, quite unintentionally, misled you into thinking I was quoting a sentence used by Voltaire ( or anyone else but myself ). ' The words `` my own '' were underlined personally by Hall in her letter. To believe certain commentators -- Norbert Guterman, A Book of French Quotations, 1963 -- Hall was referencing back to a Voltaire letter of 6 February 1770 to an abbot le Riche where Voltaire supposedly said, `` Reverend, I hate what you write, but I will give my life so that you can continue to write. '' The problem is that, if you consult the letter itself, the sentence there does not appear, nor even the idea : `` AM LE RICHE A AMIENS. 6 February. You left, Sir, des Welches for des Welches. You will find everywhere barbarians obstinate. The number of wise will always be small. It is true... it has increased ; but it is nothing in comparison with the stupid ones ; and, by misfortune, one says that God is always for the big battalions. It is necessary that the decent people stick together and stay under cover. There are no means that their small troop could tackle the party of the fanatics in open country. I was very sick, I was near death every winter ; this is the reason, Sir, why I have answered you so late. I am not less touched by it than your memory. Continue to me your friendship ; it comforts me my evils and stupidities of the human genre. Receive my assurances, etc. '' Voltaire, however, did not hesitate to wish censure against slander and personal libels. Here is what he writes in his `` Atheism '' article in the Dictionnaire philosophique : `` Aristophanes ( this man that the commentators admire because he was Greek, not thinking that Socrates was Greek also ), Aristophanes was the first who accustomed the Athenians to consider Socrates an atheist.... The tanners, the shoemakers and the dressmakers of Athens applauded a joke in which one represented Socrates raised in the air in a basket, announcing there was God, and praising himself to have stolen a coat by teaching philosophy. A whole people, whose bad government authorized such infamous licences, deserved well what it got, to become the slave of the Romans, and today of the Turks. '' Jump up ^ Brumfitt, J.H. ( 1965 ). `` The Present State of Voltaire Studies ''. Forum for Modern Language Studies. Court of the University of St Andrews. I ( 3 ) : 230. doi : 10.1093 / fmls / I. 3.230. Retrieved 28 February 2012. Jump up ^ Will and Ariel Durant, Rousseau and Revolution ( 1967 ), p. 138 Jump up ^ Massie, Robert K. ( 2011 ). Catherine the Great : Portrait of a Woman. New York : Random House. p. 335 Jump up ^ `` Voltaire ''. Deism.com. 25 June 2009. Archived from the original on 8 June 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2009. Jump up ^ Voltaire. W. Dugdale, A Philosophical Dictionary ver 2, 1843, p. 473 sec 1. Retrieved 31 October 2007. Jump up ^ Voltaire ( 1763 ) A Treatise on Toleration Jump up ^ Cite error : The named reference Ruthven was invoked but never defined ( see the help page ). Jump up ^ Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire, Volume 7. 1869. p. 184. Jump up ^ Mathews, Chris ( 2009 ). Modern Satanism : Anatomy of a Radical Subculture. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 16. Jump up ^ Coakley, Sarah ( 2012 ). Faith, Rationality and the Passions. p. 37. Jump up ^ Cronk, Nicholas ( 2009 ). The Cambridge Companion to Voltaire. Cambridge University Press. p. 199. Jump up ^ R.E. Florida Voltaire and the Socinians 1974 `` Voltaire from his very first writings on the subject of religion showed a libertine scorn of scripture, which he never lost. This set him apart from Socinianism even though he admired the simplicity of Socinian theology as well as their... ''. Jump up ^ The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series : Volume 7 : 28 November 1813 to 30 September 1814 : Volume 7 : 28 November 1813 to 30 September 1814. Princeton University Press. p. 27. edited by J. Jefferson Looney Jump up ^ Les chrétiens n'avaient regardé jusqu'à présent le fameux Mahomet que comme un heureux brigand, un imposteur habile, un législateur presque toujours extravagant. Quelques Savants de ce siècle, sur la foi des rapsodies arabesques, ont entrepris de le venger de l'injustice que lui font nos écrivains. Ils nous le donnent comme un génie sublime, et comme un homme des plus admirables, par la grandeur de ses entreprises, de ses vue, de ses succès, Claude - Adrien Nonnotte Jump up ^ Les erreurs de Voltaire, Jacquenod père et Rusand, 1770, Vol I, p. 70. Jump up ^ M. de Voltaire nous assure qu'il ( Mahomet ) avait une éloquence vive et forte, des yeux perçants, une physionomie heureuse, l'intrépidité d'Alexandre, la libéralité et la sobriété dont Alexandre aurait eu besoin pour être un grand homme en tout... Il nous représente Mahomet comme un homme qui a eu la gloire de tirer presque toute l'Asie des ténèbres de l'idolâtrie. Il extrait quelques paroles de divers endroits de l'Alcoran, dont il admire le Sublime. Il trouve que sa loi est extrêmement sage, que ses lois civiles sont bonnes et que son dogme est admirable en ce qu'il se conforme avec le nôtre. Enfin pour prémunir les lecteurs contre tout ce que les Chrétiens ont dit méchamment de Mahomet, il avertit que ce ne sont guère que des sottises débitées par des moines ignorants et insensés., Nonnotte, p. 71. Jump up ^ Keffe, Simon P. ( 2003 ). The Cambridge Companion to Mozart. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 - 521 - 00192 - 7. Jump up ^ Dublin review : a quarterly and critical journal. Burns, Oates and Washbourne. 1840. pp. 208 --. JItKAAAAcAAJ. p. 208 image at Google Books Jump up ^ Thomas E. Woods, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization ( Regnery Publishing 2005 ) pp. 169 -- 70 Jump up ^ Daniel - Rops, Henri ( 1964 ). History of the Church of Christ. Dutton. p. 47. His ( Voltaire 's ) hatred of religion increased with the passage of years. The attack, launched at first against clericalism and theocracy, ended in a furious assault upon Holy Scripture, the dogmas of the Church, and even upon the person of Jesus Christ Himself, who was depicted now as a degenerate ^ Jump up to : Prager, D ; Telushkin, J. Why the Jews ? : The Reason for Antisemitism. New York : Simon & Schuster, 1983. pp. 128 -- 89. Jump up ^ Poliakov, L. The History of Anti-Semitism : From Voltaire to Wagner. Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1975 ( translated ). pp. 88 -- 89. Jump up ^ Voltaire, François - Marie. Essai sur les Moeurs. See also : Voltaire, François - Marie. Dictionnaire Philosophique. Jump up ^ Voltaire. 1843. A Philosophical Dictionary page 94 Jump up ^ Gay, P. The Party of Humanity : Essays in the French Enlightenment. Alfred Knopf, 1964. pp. 103 -- 05. Jump up ^ ( Schwarzbach, Bertram ), `` Voltaire et les juifs : bilan et plaidoyer '', Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century ( SVEC ) 358, Oxford Jump up ^ Hertzberg, A. The French Enlightenment and the Jews. Columbia University, 1968. p. 284. Jump up ^ Azurmendi, Joxe ( 2014 ). Historia, arraza, nazioa. Donostia : Elkar. pp. 177 -- 86. ISBN 978 - 84 - 9027 - 297 - 8 Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. p. 629. ^ Jump up to : Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. p. 630. Jump up ^ Gunny, Ahmad ( 1996 ). Images of Islam in 18th Century Writings. However, Islam still remains a false religion in Voltaire 's eyes -- he claims that the Quran betrays ignorance of the most elementary laws of physics. Jump up ^ `` Oeuvres completes de Voltaire : Voltaire : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive ''. Archive.org. 2001 - 03 - 10. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 06. Jump up ^ Pomeau. Voltaire en son temps. Jump up ^ Written and published in 1748 in Volume IV of the Œuvres de Voltaire, following his Tragedy of Mahomet. Jump up ^ Fareed Ali Haddawy, Hussain ( 1962 ). English Arabesque : The Oriental Mode in Eighteenth - century English Literature. Cornell University. Jump up ^ Ormsby, F.E. ( 1899 ). Planets and People, Volume 5, Issue 1. p. 184. Jump up ^ Smollett, Tobias ; Morley, John ( 1901 ). The Works of Voltaire : A philosophical dictionary. p. 101. ^ Jump up to : Pomeau, René ( 1995 ) La religion de Voltaire. A.G Nizet. ISBN 2707803316. p. 157. Jump up ^ Smollett, Tobias ; Morley, John ( 1901 ). The Works of Voltaire : A philosophical dictionary. pp. 102 -- 104. Jump up ^ Pomeau, René ( 1995 ) La religion de Voltaire. A.G Nizet. ISBN 2707803316. pp. 156 -- 157. Jump up ^ Voltaire, Essais sur les Mœurs, 1756, Chap. VI. -- De l'Arabie et de Mahomet. Jump up ^ Voltaire, Essais sur les Mœurs, 1756, Chap. VII. -- De l'Alcoran, et de la loi musulmane. Examen si la religion musulmane était nouvelle, et si elle a été persécutante. ^ Jump up to : The history of Charles xii. king of Sweden ( tr. and abridged by A. Henderson from the work by F.M.A. de Voltaire ). 1734. p. 112. Jump up ^ Shah Kazemi, Reza. The Spirit of Tolerance in Islam. pp. 5 -- 6. Voltaire also ' pointed out that no Christian state allowed the presence of a mosque ; but that the Ottoman state was filled with Churches. ' Jump up ^ Avez - vous oublié que ce poète était astronome, et qu'il réforma le calendrier des Arabes ?, Lettre civile et honnête à l'auteur malhonnête de la `` Critique de l'histoire universelle de M. de Voltaire '' ( 1760 ), dans Œuvres complètes de Voltaire, Voltaire. Moland, 1875, Vol. 24, p. 164. Jump up ^ Voltaire ( 1824 ). A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 1. p. 76. Jump up ^ Ce fut certainement un très grand homme, et qui forma de grands hommes. Il fallait qu'il fût martyr ou conquérant, il n'y avait pas de milieu. Il vainquit toujours, et toutes ses victoires furent remportées par le petit nombre sur le grand. Conquérant, législateur, monarque et pontife, il joua le plus grand rôle qu'on puisse jouer sur la terre aux yeux du commun des hommes ; mais les sages lui préféreront toujours Confutzée, précisément parce qu'il ne fut rien de tout cela, et qu'il se contenta d'enseigner la morale la plus pure à une nation plus ancienne, plus nombreuse, et plus policée que la nation arabe., Remarques pour servir de supplément à l'Essai sur les Mœurs ( 1763 ), dans Œuvres complètes de Voltaire, Voltaire. Moland, 1875, Vol. 24, chap. 9 - De Mahomet, p. 590. Jump up ^ J'ai dit qu'on reconnut Mahomet pour un grand homme ; rien n'est plus impie, dites - vous. Je vous répondrai que ce n'est pas ma faute si ce petit homme a changé la face d'une partie du monde, s'il a gagné des batailles contre des armées dix fois plus nombreuses que les siennes, s'il a fait trembler l'Empire romain, s'il a donné les premiers coups à ce colosse que ses successeurs ont écrasé, et s'il a été législateur de l'Asie, de l'Afrique, et d'une partie de l'Europe., `` Lettre civile et honnête à l'auteur malhonnête de la Critique de l'histoire universelle. Voltaire ( 1760 ), in Œuvres complètes de Voltaire, Voltaire. Moland, 1875, Vol. 24, p. 164. Jump up ^ Gunny, Ahmad ( 1996 ). Images of Islam in 18th Century Writings. p. 142. Jump up ^ Allen Harvey, David. The French Enlightenment and Its Others : The Mandarin, the Savage, and the Invention of the Human Sciences. Jump up ^ `` Essai sur les Mœurs et l'Esprit des Nations '' ( 1756 ), dans Œuvres complètes de Voltaire, Voltaire. Moland, 1875, Vol. 11, chap. VII - De l'Alcoran, et de la loi musulmane, p. 244. Jump up ^ Il est évident que le génie du peuple arabe, mis en mouvement par Mahomet, fit tout de lui - même pendant près de trois siècles, et ressembla en cela au génie des anciens Romains., `` Essais sur les Mœurs '' ( 1756 ), dans Œuvres complètes de Voltaire, Voltaire, éd. Moland, 1875, t. 11, chap. VI - De l'Arabie et de Mahomet, p. 237. et écrit que `` dans nos siècles de barbarie et d'ignorance, qui suivirent la décadence et le déchirement de l'Empire romain, nous reçûmes presque tout des Arabes : astronomie, chimie, médecine Préface de l'Essai sur l'Histoire universelle '' ( 1754 ), dans Œuvres complètes de Voltaire, Voltaire, éd. Moland, 1875, t. 24, p. 49. Si ces Ismaélites ressemblaient aux Juifs par l'enthousiasme et la soif du pillage, ils étaient prodigieusement supérieurs par le courage, par la grandeur d'âme, par la magnanimité., `` Essai sur les Mœurs et l'Esprit des Nations '' ( 1756 ), dans Œuvres complètes de Voltaire, Voltaire, éd. Moland, 1875, t. 11, chap. VI - De l'Arabie et de Mahomet, p. 231. et que `` dès le second siècle de Mahomet, il fallut que les chrétiens d'Occident s'instruisissent chez les musulmans '' Essais sur les Mœurs '' ( 1756 ), dans Œuvres complètes de Voltaire, Voltaire, éd. Moland, 1875, t. 11, chap. VI - De l'Arabie et de Mahomet, p. 237. Jump up ^ Voltaire, Mahomet the Prophet or Fanaticism : A Tragedy in Five Acts, trans. Robert L. Myers, ( New York : Frederick Ungar, 1964 ). Jump up ^ Voltaire Letter to Benedict XIV written in Paris on August 17, 1745 AD : `` Your holiness will pardon the liberty taken by one of the lowest of the faithful, though a zealous admirer of virtue, of submitting to the head of the true religion this performance, written in opposition to the founder of a false and barbarous sect. To whom could I with more propriety inscribe a satire on the cruelty and errors of a false prophet, than to the vicar and representative of a God of truth and mercy ? Your holiness will therefore give me leave to lay at your feet both the piece and the author of it, and humbly to request your protection of the one, and your benediction upon the other ; in hopes of which, with the profoundest reverence, I kiss your sacred feet. '' Jump up ^ Voltaire, Le Fanatisme ou Mahomet le prophète ( 1741 ), Œuvres complètes. Garnier, 1875, Vol. 4, p135. Jump up ^ Mahomet le fanatique, le cruel, le fourbe, et, à la honte des hommes, le grand, qui de garçon marchand devient prophète, législateur et monarque, ( Mohammed the fanatic, the cruel, the deceiver, and to men 's shame, the great, who from a grocer 's boy became a prophet, a legislator and a monarch ). Recueil des Lettres de Voltaire ( 1739 -- 1741 ), Voltaire, Sanson et Compagnie, 1792, Lettre à M. De Cideville, conseiller honoraire du parlement ( 5 mai 1740 ), p. 163. Jump up ^ Voltaire in His Letters : Being a Selection from His Correspondence. p. 74. translated and edited by Evelyn Beatrice Hall Jump up ^ Gunny, Ahmad ( 1996 ). Images of Islam in 18th Century Writings. He expanded on this idea in his letter to César de Missy ( Ist September 1742 ) where he described Mahomet as a deceitful character. Jump up ^ Voltaire, Lettres inédites de Voltaire, Didier, 1856, Vol 1, Letter to César De Missy, 1 September 1743, p. 450. Jump up ^ `` The Atheist 's Bible '', p. 198, by Georges Minois, 2012 Jump up ^ Je sais que Mahomet n'a pas tramé précisément l'espèce de trahison qui fait le sujet de cette tragédie... Je n'ai pas prétendu mettre seulement une action vraie sur la scène, mais des mœurs vraies, faire penser les hommes comme ils pensent dans les circonstances où ils se trouvent, et représenter enfin ce que la fourberie peut inventer de plus atroce, et ce que le Fanatisme peut exécuter de plus horrible. Mahomet n'est ici autre chose que Tartuffe les armes à la main. Je me croirai bien récompensé de mon travail, si quelqu'une de ces âmes faibles, toujours prêtes à recevoir les impressions d'une fureur étrangère qui n'est pas au fond de leur cœur, peut s'affermir contre ces funestes séductions par la lecture de cet ouvrage., Voltaire, Letter to Frederick II, King of Prussia, 20 January 1742. Jump up ^ Il n'appartenait assurément qu'aux musulmans de se plaindre ; car j'ai fait Mahomet un peu plus méchant qu'il n'était, Lettre à Mme Denis, 29 October 1751, Lettres choisies de Voltaire, Libraires associés, 1792, Vol. 2, p. 113. Jump up ^ Smollett, Tobias ; Morley, John ( 1905 ). The Works of Voltaire : A philosophical dictionary. p. 105. Jump up ^ The Works of Voltaire : The dramatic works of Voltaire. St. Hubert Guild. 1901. p. 12. Jump up ^ Voltaire, Letter to Benedict XIV written in Paris on 17 August 1745 : Your holiness will pardon the liberty taken by one of the lowest of the faithful, though a zealous admirer of virtue, of submitting to the head of the true religion this performance, written in opposition to the founder of a false and barbarous sect. To whom could I with more propriety inscribe a satire on the cruelty and errors of a false prophet, than to the vicar and representative of a God of truth and mercy ? Your holiness will therefore give me leave to lay at your feet both the piece and the author of it, and humbly to request your protection of the one, and your benediction upon the other ; in hopes of which, with the profoundest reverence, I kiss your sacred feet. Jump up ^ Berman, Nina ( 2011 ). German Literature on the Middle East : Discourses and Practices, 1000 -- 1989. University of Michigan Press. p. 118. Jump up ^ The Concept of Human Dignity in the French and American Enlightenments : Religion, Virtue, Liberty. 2006. p. 280. Voltaire goes on to accuse other religions such as Islam for their own intolerance ( 359 ). Voltaire, then, seems to consider Christianity as one of many intolerant and absurd religions. Jump up ^ Voltaire 's Fanaticism, or Mahomet the Prophet : A New Translation Preface : Voltaire and Islam Malise Ruthven Jump up ^ Elmarsafy, Ziad. `` The Enlightenment Qur'an : The Politics of Translation and the Construction of Islam ''. JSTOR 23044965. Jump up ^ Mathilde Hilger, Stephanie ( 2009 ). Strategies of Response and the Dynamics of European Literary Culture, 1790 -- 1805. Rodopi. p. 100. Jump up ^ `` Lectures on the science of language, delivered at the Royal institution of Great Britain in 1861 ( and 1863 ) '', by Max Muller, p. 148, original from = Oxford University Jump up ^ The Modern Review, Volume 32, p. 183, by Ramananda Chatterjee, originally from = University of Michigan '' Jump up ^ Pensées végétariennes, Voltaire, éditions Mille et une nuits. Jump up ^ Guardian ( UK ) newspaper, review of Bloodless Revolution, published by Harper - Collins Jump up ^ Sala - Molins, Louis ( 2006 ) Dark side of the light : slavery and the French Enlightenment. Univ Of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0 - 8166 - 4389 - X. p. 102 Jump up ^ de Viguerie, Jean ( July 1993 ). `` Les ' Lumieres ' et les peuples ''. Revue Historique. 290 ( 1 ) : 161 -- 89. Jump up ^ William B. Cohen ( 2003 ). The French encounter with Africans : White response to Blacks, 1530 -- 1880. Indiana University Press. p. 86. Jump up ^ David Allen Harvey ( 2012 ). The French Enlightenment and its Others : The Mandarin, the Savage, and the Invention of the Human Sciences. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 135 -- 46. Jump up ^ Davis, David Brion, The problem of slavery in Western culture ( New York : Oxford University Press 1988 ) ISBN 0 - 19 - 505639 - 6 p. 392 Jump up ^ Stark, Rodney, For the Glory of God : How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch - Hunts, and the End of Slavery ( 2003 ), p. 359 Jump up ^ Miller, Christopher L., The French Atlantic triangle : literature and culture of the slave trade ( 2008 ) pp. x, 7, 73, 77 Jump up ^ Catherine A. Reinhardt ( 2006 ). Claims to Memory : Beyond Slavery and Emancipation in the French Caribbean. Berghahn Books. p. 43. ISBN 9781845450793. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1965 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 9 : The Age of Voltaire. Simon&Schuster. p. 358. ^ Jump up to : Will Durant ( 1933 ). The Story of Philosophy 2nd ed. Simon&Schuster. p. 259. ^ Jump up to : Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. p. 881. ^ Jump up to : Theodore Besterman ( 1969 ). Voltaire. Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. p. 11. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. p. 880. ^ Jump up to : Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. p. 139. Jump up ^ `` The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 2012 ''. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. pp. 139 -- 40. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. p. 879. ^ Jump up to : J.M. Wheeler and G.W. Foote ( 1894 ). Voltaire : A sketch of his life and works. Robert Forder. p. 69. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1965 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 9 : The Age of Voltaire. Simon&Schuster. pp. 734 -- 36. ^ Jump up to : Will Durant ( 1965 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 9 : The Age of Voltaire. Simon&Schuster. p. 736. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1965 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 9 : The Age of Voltaire. Simon&Schuster. p. 753. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1965 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 9 : The Age of Voltaire. Simon&Schuster. p. 370. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. p. 31. ^ Jump up to : Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. p. 170. ^ Jump up to : Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. p. 149. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. pp. 190 -- 91. ^ Jump up to : Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. pp. 197 -- 99. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. pp. 877 -- 78. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. p. 886. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. pp. 879, 886. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon&Schuster. p. 887. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1967 ). The Story of Civilization Volume 10 : Rousseau and Revolution. Simon & Schuster. p. 887. Jump up ^ Will Durant ( 1933 ). The Story of Philosophy 2nd ed. Simon&Schuster. p. 261. ^ Jump up to : Will Durant ( 1933 ). The Story of Philosophy 2nd ed. Simon&Schuster. p. 187. Jump up ^ `` Democracy ''. The Philosophical Dictionary. Knopf. 1924. Retrieved 1 July 2008. Jump up ^ `` Letter on the subject of Candide, to the Journal encyclopédique July 15, 1759 ''. University of Chicago. Archived from the original on 13 October 2006. Retrieved 7 January 2008. ^ Jump up to : Liu, Wu - Chi ( 1953 ). `` The Original Orphan of China ''. Comparative Literature. 5 ( 3 ) : 206 -- 07. JSTOR 1768912. Jump up ^ Gay, Peter Voltaire 's Politics : The Poet as Realist ( New Haven : Yale University 1988 ), p. 265 : `` If the heavens, despoiled of his august stamp could ever cease to manifest him, if God did n't exist, it would be necessary to invent him. Let the wise proclaim him, and kings fear him. '' Jump up ^ `` Beacon Lights of History '', p. 207, by Jon Lord, publisher = Cosimo, Inc, 2009. -- German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, however, called Carlyle a muddlehead who had not even understood the Enlightenment values he thought he was promoting. See -- Nietzsche and Legal Theory : Half - Written Laws, by Peter Goodrich, Mariana Valverde, published by Routledge, p. 5 Jump up ^ Pearson, p. 430 Jump up ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. ; International Astronomical Union ( 2003 ). Dictionary of minor planet names. Springer. p. 481. ISBN 978 - 3 - 540 - 00238 - 3. Retrieved 9 September 2011. Jump up ^ Koerner, Brendan ( June 2005 ). `` Brain Brew ''. The Washington Monthly. pp. 46 -- 49. Retrieved 30 April 2014. Jump up ^ Cowell, Siôn ( 2001 ). The Teilhard Lexicon : Understanding the language, terminology, and vision of the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Brighton : Sussex Academic Press. p. 6. ISBN 978 - 1 - 902210 - 37 - 7. Retrieved 30 November 2011. Jump up ^ Kurian, George Thomas ( 2010 ). The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature. Lanham, MD : Scarecrow Press. p. 591. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8108 - 6987 - 5. Retrieved 30 November 2011. ^ Jump up to : Barber, Giles ( 2004 ). Besterman, Theodore Deodatus Nathaniel ( 1904 -- 1976 ). Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Jump up ^ Mason, Haydn. `` A history of the Voltaire Foundation '' ( PDF ). Voltaire Foundation. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2016. ^ Jump up to : Julia, Aurélie ( October 2011 ). `` Voltaire à Oxford, The Voltaire Foundation ''. Revue des Deux Mondes ( in French ). English translation at `` Archived copy '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2016. Jump up ^ Johnson, Michael ( 23 January 2010 ). `` Voltaire the Survivor ''. The International Herald Tribune. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 4 May 2016. Jump up ^ Dates of the first performance, unless otherwise noted. Garreau, Joseph E. ( 1984 ). `` Voltaire '', vol. 5, pp. 113 -- 17, in McGraw - Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama, Stanley Hochman, editor in chief. New York : McGraw - Hill. ISBN 978 - 0 - 07 - 079169 - 5. Jump up ^ This is an adaptation of the famous Chinese play The Orphan of Zhao, based on historical events in the Spring and Autumn period. Further reading App, Urs. The Birth of Orientalism. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010 ( hardcover, ISBN 978 - 0 - 8122 - 4261 - 4 ) ; contains a 60 - page chapter ( pp. 15 -- 76 ) on Voltaire as a pioneer of Indomania and his use of fake Indian texts in anti-Christian propaganda. Besterman, Theodore, Voltaire, ( 1969 ). Brumfitt, J.H. Voltaire : Historian ( 1958 ) online edition Davidson, Ian, Voltaire. A Life, London, Profile Books, 2010. ISBN 978 - 1 - 60598 - 287 - 8 Durant, Will, The Story of Civilization. Vol. IX : The Age of Voltaire. New York : Simon and Schuster, 1965. Gay, Peter, Voltaire 's Politics, The Poet as Realist, Yale University, 1988. Hadidi, Djavâd, Voltaire et l'Islam, Publications Orientalistes de France, 1974. ISBN 978 - 2 - 84161 - 510 - 0 Knapp, Bettina L. Voltaire Revisited ( 2000 ) Mason, Haydn, Voltaire, A Biography ( 1981 ) ISBN 978 - 0 - 8018 - 2611 - 5 McElroy, Wendy ( 2008 ). `` Voltaire ( 1694 -- 1778 ) ''. In Hamowy, Ronald. The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Thousand Oaks, CA : SAGE ; Cato Institute. p. 523. doi : 10.4135 / 9781412965811. n319. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4129 - 6580 - 4. LCCN 2008009151. OCLC 750831024. Muller, Jerry Z., 2002. The Mind and the Market : Capitalism in Western Thought. Anchor Books. 978 - 0385721660 Pearson, Roger, 2005. Voltaire Almighty : a life in pursuit of freedom. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978 - 1 - 58234 - 630 - 4. p. 447 Quinones, Ricardo J. Erasmus and Voltaire : Why They Still Matter ( University of Toronto Press ; 2010 ) 240 pages ; Draws parallels between the two thinkers as voices of moderation with relevance today. Schwarzbach, Bertram Eugene, Voltaire 's Old Testament Criticism, Librairie Droz, Geneva, 1971. Torrey, Norman L., The Spirit of Voltaire, Columbia University Press, 1938. Vernon, Thomas S. ( 1989 ). `` Chapter V : Voltaire ''. Great Infidels. M & M Pr. ISBN 0 - 943099 - 05 - 6. Wade, Ira O. ( 1967 ). Studies on Voltaire. New York : Russell & Russell. Wright, Charles Henry Conrad, A History of French Literature, Oxford University Press, 1912. `` The Cambridge Companion to Voltaire '', ed by Nicholas Cronk, 2009. In French Korolev, S. Voltaire et la reliure des livres / / Revue Voltaire. Paris, 2013. # 13. pp. 233 -- 40. René Pomeau, La Religion de Voltaire, Librairie Nizet, Paris, 1974. Valérie Crugten - André, La vie de Voltaire ( 1 ) Primary sources Morley, J., The Works of Voltaire, A Contemporary Version, ( 21 vol 1901 ), online edition External links Find more aboutVoltaireat Wikipedia 's sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Wikimedia Commons News from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Learning resources from Wikiversity Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Voltaire. Château de Cirey -- Residence of Voltaire, visitvoltaire.com Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil Marquise du Châtelet, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland Hewett, Caspar J.M. ( August 2006 ). `` The Great Debate : Life of Voltaire ''. Retrieved 2 November 2008. The Société Voltaire An analysis of Voltaire 's texts ( in the `` textes '' topic ) ( in French ) Complete French ebooks of Voltaire ( in French ) Biography and quotes of Voltaire Institut et Musée Voltaire, Geneva, Switzerland ( in French ) Works by Voltaire edited at athena.unige.ch Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy on Voltaire Monsieur de Voltaire Correspondence in French VisitVoltaire.com site with images Complete listing of current published editions of Voltaire 's works Voltaire 's Candide and Leibniz Voltaire 's works : works : text, concordances and frequency list Voltaire 's writings from Philosophical Dictionary. Selected and Translated by H.I. Woolf, 1924 Worldly and Personal Influences on Voltaire 's Writing Voltaire at the Eighteenth - Century Poetry Archive ( ECPA ) Works by Voltaire at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Voltaire at Internet Archive Works by Voltaire at LibriVox ( public domain audiobooks ) Works by Voltaire at ManyBooks Voltaire 's works and chronology About Voltaire in `` Lucidcafé '' Online Library of Liberty -- The Works of Voltaire ( 1901 ). Some volumes, including mostly the unabridged Dictionnaire philosophique, translated by William F. Fleming ( in French ) Voltaire, his work in audio version Voltaire Prose works Letters on the English Elements of the Philosophy of Newton Zadig History of Charles XII The Age of Louis XIV Micromégas Annals of the Empire Plato 's Dream Doctor Akakia Essai sur les mœurs et l'esprit des nations Candide Treatise on Tolerance Dictionnaire philosophique Commentaires sur Corneille Idées républicaines Questions sur les Miracles L'Ingénu The Historical Praise of Reason Précis du siècle de Louis XV Des singularités de la nature The Man of Forty Crowns The White Bull Poetry Henriade Le Mondain Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne Épître à l'Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs The Maid of Orleans Drama Oedipus Hérode et Mariamne Zaïre La Prude Socrates Mahomet La princesse de Navarre Nanine L'Orphelin de la Chine Other Samson ( opera ) Related Les Délices Institut et Musée Voltaire Voltaire Foundation Complete Works of Voltaire Ferney - Voltaire The Friends of Voltaire ( 1906 book ) Voltaire ( 1933 film ) Passionate Minds ( 2006 novel ) Articles related to Voltaire Académie française seat 33 Vincent Voiture ( 1634 ) François Eudes de Mézeray ( 1648 ) Jean Barbier d'Aucour ( 1683 ) François de Clermont - Tonnerre ( 1694 ) Nicolas de Malézieu ( 1701 ) Jean Bouhier ( 1727 ) François - Marie Arouet dit Voltaire ( 1746 ) Jean - François Ducis ( 1778 ) Raymond Desèze ( 1816 ) Amable Guillaume Prosper Brugière, baron de Barante ( 1828 ) Auguste Joseph Alphonse Gratry ( 1867 ) René Taillandier ( 1873 ) Maxime Du Camp ( 1880 ) Paul Bourget ( 1894 ) Edmond Jaloux ( 1936 ) Jean - Louis Vaudoyer ( 1950 ) Marcel Brion ( 1964 ) Michel Mohrt ( 1985 ) Dominique Bona ( 2013 ) The Age of Enlightenment Topics Atheism Capitalism Civil liberties Counter-Enlightenment Critical thinking Deism Democracy Empiricism Encyclopédistes Enlightened absolutism Free markets Haskalah Humanism Human rights Liberalism Liberté, égalité, fraternité Methodological skepticism Nationalism Natural philosophy Objectivity Rationality Rationalism Reason Reductionism Sapere aude Science Scientific method Socialism Universality Weimar Classicism Thinkers France Jean le Rond d'Alembert Étienne Bonnot de Condillac Marquis de Condorcet Denis Diderot Claude Adrien Helvétius Baron d'Holbach Georges - Louis Leclerc Montesquieu François Quesnay Jean - Jacques Rousseau Marquis de Sade Voltaire Germany Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Georg Hamann Johann Gottfried von Herder Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi Immanuel Kant Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Moses Mendelssohn Friedrich Schiller Thomas Wizenmann Greece Neophytos Doukas Theoklitos Farmakidis Rigas Feraios Theophilos Kairis Adamantios Korais Ireland Robert Boyle Edmund Burke Italy Cesare Beccaria Gaetano Filangieri Antonio Genovesi Pietro Verri Poland Tadeusz Czacki Hugo Kołłątaj Stanisław Konarski Ignacy Krasicki Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz Stanisław August Poniatowski Jędrzej Śniadecki Stanisław Staszic Józef Wybicki Andrzej Stanisław Załuski Józef Andrzej Załuski Portugal Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo Russia Catherine II Spain Charles III Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro United Kingdom ( Scotland ) Francis Bacon Jeremy Bentham Joseph Black James Boswell Adam Ferguson Edward Gibbon Robert Hooke David Hume Francis Hutcheson Samuel Johnson John Locke Isaac Newton Thomas Reid Adam Smith Mary Wollstonecraft United States Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson James Madison George Mason Thomas Paine French Revolution Causes Timeline Ancien Régime Revolution Constitutional monarchy Republic Directory Consulate Glossary Significant civil and political events by year 1788 Day of the Tiles ( 7 Jun 1788 ) Assembly of Vizille ( 21 Jul 1788 ) 1789 What Is the Third Estate ? ( Jan 1789 ) Réveillon riots ( 28 Apr 1789 ) Convocation of the Estates - General ( 5 May 1789 ) National Assembly ( 17 Jun -- 9 Jul 1790 ) Tennis Court Oath ( 20 Jun 1789 ) National Constituent Assembly ( 9 Jul -- 30 Sep 1791 ) Storming of the Bastille ( 14 Jul 1789 ) Great Fear ( 20 Jul -- 5 Aug 1789 ) Abolition of Feudalism ( 4 - 11 Aug 1789 ) Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen ( 27 Aug 1789 ) Women 's March on Versailles ( 5 Oct 1789 ) 1790 Abolition of the Parlements ( Feb -- Jul 1790 ) Abolition of the Nobility ( 19 Jun 1790 ) Civil Constitution of the Clergy ( 12 Jul 1790 ) 1791 Flight to Varennes ( 20 -- 21 Jun 1791 ) Champ de Mars Massacre ( 17 Jul 1791 ) Declaration of Pillnitz ( 27 Aug 1791 ) The Constitution of 1791 ( 3 Sep 1791 ) Legislative Assembly ( 1 Oct 1791 -- Sep 1792 ) 1792 France declares war ( 20 Apr 1792 ) Brunswick Manifesto ( 25 Jul 1792 ) Paris Commune becomes insurrectionary ( Jun 1792 ) 10th of August ( 10 Aug 1792 ) September Massacres ( Sep 1792 ) National Convention ( 20 Sep 1792 -- 26 Oct 1795 ) First republic declared ( 22 Sep 1792 ) 1793 Execution of Louis XVI ( 21 Jan 1793 ) Revolutionary Tribunal ( 9 Mar 1793 -- 31 May 1795 ) Reign of Terror ( 27 Jun 1793 -- 27 Jul 1794 ) Committee of Public Safety Committee of General Security Fall of the Girondists ( 2 Jun 1793 ) Assassination of Marat ( 13 Jul 1793 ) Levée en masse ( 23 Aug 1793 ) The Death of Marat ( painting ) Law of Suspects ( 17 Sep 1793 ) Marie Antoinette is guillotined ( 16 Oct 1793 ) Anti-clerical laws ( throughout the year ) 1794 Danton and Desmoulins guillotined ( 5 Apr 1794 ) Law of 22 Prairial ( 10 Jun 1794 ) Thermidorian Reaction ( 27 Jul 1794 ) Robespierre guillotined ( 28 Jul 1794 ) White Terror ( Fall 1794 ) Closing of the Jacobin Club ( 11 Nov 1794 ) 1795 Constitution of the Year III ( 22 Aug 1795 ) Conspiracy of the Equals ( Nov 1795 ) Directoire ( 1795 -- 99 ) Council of Five Hundred Council of Ancients 1797 Coup of 18 Fructidor ( 4 Sep 1797 ) Second Congress of Rastatt ( Dec 1797 ) 1799 Coup of 30 Prairial VII ( 18 Jun 1799 ) Coup of 18 Brumaire ( 9 Nov 1799 ) Constitution of the Year VIII ( 24 Dec 1799 ) Consulate Revolutionary campaigns 1792 Verdun Thionville Valmy Royalist Revolts Chouannerie Vendée Dauphiné Lille Siege of Mainz Jemappes Namur ( fr ) 1793 First Coalition Siege of Toulon ( 18 Sep -- 18 Dec 1793 ) War in the Vendée Battle of Neerwinden ) Battle of Famars ( 23 May 1793 ) Expédition de Sardaigne ( 21 Dec 1792 - 25 May 1793 ) Battle of Kaiserslautern Siege of Mainz Battle of Wattignies Battle of Hondschoote Siege of Bellegarde Battle of Peyrestortes ( Pyrenees ) First Battle of Wissembourg ( 13 Oct 1793 ) Battle of Truillas ( Pyrenees ) Second Battle of Wissembourg ( 26 -- 27 Dec 1793 ) 1794 Battle of Villers - en - Cauchies ( 24 Apr 1794 ) Battle of Boulou ( Pyrenees ) ( 30 Apr -- 1 May 1794 ) Battle of Tournay ( 22 May 1794 ) Battle of Fleurus ( 26 Jun 1794 ) Chouannerie Battle of Tourcoing ( 18 May 1794 ) Battle of Aldenhoven ( 2 Oct 1794 ) 1795 Peace of Basel 1796 Battle of Lonato ( 3 -- 4 Aug 1796 ) Battle of Castiglione ( 5 Aug 1796 ) Battle of Theiningen Battle of Neresheim ( 11 Aug 1796 ) Battle of Amberg ( 24 Aug 1796 ) Battle of Würzburg ( 3 Sep 1796 ) Battle of Rovereto ( 4 Sep 1796 ) First Battle of Bassano ( 8 Sep 1796 ) Battle of Emmendingen ( 19 Oct 1796 ) Battle of Schliengen ( 26 Oct 1796 ) Second Battle of Bassano ( 6 Nov 1796 ) Battle of Calliano ( 6 -- 7 Nov 1796 ) Battle of the Bridge of Arcole ( 15 -- 17 Nov 1796 ) The Ireland Expedition ( Dec 1796 ) 1797 Naval Engagement off Brittany ( 13 Jan 1797 ) Battle of Rivoli ( 14 -- 15 Jan 1797 ) Battle of the Bay of Cádiz ( 25 Jan 1797 ) Treaty of Leoben ( 17 Apr 1797 ) Battle of Neuwied ( 18 Apr 1797 ) Treaty of Campo Formio ( 17 Oct 1797 ) 1798 French invasion of Switzerland ( 28 January -- 17 May 1798 ) French Invasion of Egypt ( 1798 -- 1801 ) Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( 23 May -- 23 Sep 1798 ) Quasi-War ( 1798 -- 1800 ) Peasants ' War ( 12 Oct -- 5 Dec 1798 ) 1799 Second Coalition ( 1798 -- 1802 ) Siege of Acre ( 20 Mar -- 21 May 1799 ) Battle of Ostrach ( 20 -- 21 Mar 1799 ) Battle of Stockach ( 25 Mar 1799 ) Battle of Magnano ( 5 Apr 1799 ) Battle of Cassano ( 27 Apr 1799 ) First Battle of Zurich ( 4 -- 7 Jun 1799 ) Battle of Trebbia ( 19 Jun 1799 ) Battle of Novi ( 15 Aug 1799 ) Second Battle of Zurich ( 25 -- 26 Sep 1799 ) 1800 Battle of Marengo ( 14 Jun 1800 ) Battle of Hohenlinden ( 3 Dec 1800 ) League of Armed Neutrality ( 1800 -- 02 ) 1801 Treaty of Lunéville ( 9 Feb 1801 ) Treaty of Florence ( 18 Mar 1801 ) Algeciras Campaign ( 8 Jul 1801 ) 1802 Treaty of Amiens ( 25 Mar 1802 ) Military leaders French Army Eustache Charles d'Aoust Pierre Augereau Alexandre de Beauharnais Jean - Baptiste Bernadotte Louis - Alexandre Berthier Jean - Baptiste Bessières Guillaume - Marie - Anne Brune Jean François Carteaux Jean Étienne Championnet Chapuis de Tourville Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine Louis - Nicolas Davout Louis Desaix Jacques François Dugommier Thomas - Alexandre Dumas Charles François Dumouriez Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino Louis - Charles de Flers Paul Grenier Emmanuel de Grouchy Jacques Maurice Hatry Lazare Hoche Jean - Baptiste Jourdan François Christophe de Kellermann Jean - Baptiste Kléber Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Jean Lannes Charles Leclerc Claude Lecourbe François Joseph Lefebvre Jacques MacDonald Jean - Antoine Marbot Jean Baptiste de Marbot François Séverin Marceau - Desgraviers Auguste de Marmont André Masséna Bon - Adrien Jeannot de Moncey Jean Victor Marie Moreau Édouard Mortier, duc de Trévise Joachim Murat Michel Ney Pierre - Jacques Osten ( fr ) Nicolas Oudinot Catherine - Dominique de Pérignon Jean - Charles Pichegru Józef Poniatowski Laurent de Gouvion Saint - Cyr Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer Jean - Mathieu - Philibert Sérurier Joseph Souham Jean - de-Dieu Soult Louis - Gabriel Suchet Belgrand de Vaubois Claude Victor - Perrin, Duc de Belluno French Navy Charles - Alexandre Linois Opposition Austria József Alvinczi Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen Count of Clerfayt ( Walloon ) Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze ( Swiss ) Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth Pál Kray ( Hungarian ) Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc ( French ) Maximilian Baillet de Latour ( Walloon ) Karl Mack von Leiberich Rudolf Ritter von Otto ( Saxon ) Prince Josias of Saxe - Coburg - Saalfeld Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss - Plauen Johann Mészáros von Szoboszló ( Hungarian ) Karl Philipp Sebottendorf Dagobert von Wurmser Britain Sir Ralph Abercromby Admiral Sir James Saumarez Admiral Sir Edward Pellew Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany Dutch Republic William V, Prince of Orange Prussia Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick - Wolfenbüttel Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe - Ingelfingen Russia Alexander Korsakov Alexander Suvorov Spain Luis Firmin de Carvajal Antonio Ricardos Other significant figures and factions Society of 1789 Jean Sylvain Bailly Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld - Liancourt Isaac René Guy le Chapelier Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès Charles - Maurice de Talleyrand - Périgord Nicolas de Condorcet Feuillants and monarchiens Madame de Lamballe Madame du Barry Louis de Breteuil Loménie de Brienne Charles Alexandre de Calonne de Chateaubriand Jean Chouan Grace Elliott Arnaud de La Porte Jean - Sifrein Maury Jacques Necker François - Marie, marquis de Barthélemy Guillaume - Mathieu Dumas Antoine Barnave Lafayette Alexandre - Théodore - Victor, comte de Lameth Charles Malo François Lameth André Chénier Jean - François Rewbell Camille Jordan Madame de Staël Boissy d'Anglas Jean - Charles Pichegru Pierre Paul Royer - Collard Girondists Jacques Pierre Brissot Roland de La Platière Madame Roland Father Henri Grégoire Étienne Clavière Marquis de Condorcet Charlotte Corday Marie Jean Hérault Jean Baptiste Treilhard Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve Jean Debry Jean - Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil Olympe de Gouges Jean - Baptiste Robert Lindet Louis Marie de La Révellière - Lépeaux The Plain Abbé Sieyès de Cambacérès Charles François Lebrun Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot Philippe Égalité Louis Philippe I Mirabeau Antoine Christophe Merlin de Thionville Jean Joseph Mounier Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours François de Neufchâteau Montagnards Maximilien Robespierre Georges Danton Jean - Paul Marat Camille Desmoulins Louis Antoine de Saint - Just Paul Nicolas, vicomte de Barras Louis Philippe I Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint - Fargeau Jacques - Louis David Marquis de Sade Jacques - Louis David Georges Couthon Roger Ducos Jean - Marie Collot d'Herbois Jean - Henri Voulland Philippe - Antoine Merlin de Douai Antoine Quentin Fouquier - Tinville Philippe - François - Joseph Le Bas Marc - Guillaume Alexis Vadier Jean - Pierre - André Amar Prieur de la Côte - d'Or Prieur de la Marne Gilbert Romme Jean Bon Saint - André Jean - Lambert Tallien Pierre Louis Prieur Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac Antoine Christophe Saliceti Hébertists and Enragés Jacques Hébert Jacques Nicolas Billaud - Varenne Pierre Gaspard Chaumette Charles - Philippe Ronsin Antoine - François Momoro François - Nicolas Vincent François Chabot Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte Jean - Baptiste - Joseph Gobel François Hanriot Jacques Roux Stanislas - Marie Maillard Charles - Philippe Ronsin Jean - François Varlet Theophile Leclerc Claire Lacombe Pauline Léon Gracchus Babeuf Sylvain Maréchal Others Charles X Louis XVI Louis XVII Louis XVIII Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien Louis Henri, Prince of Condé Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé Marie Antoinette Napoléon Bonaparte Lucien Bonaparte Joseph Bonaparte Joseph Fesch Joséphine de Beauharnais Joachim Murat Jean Sylvain Bailly Jacques - Donatien Le Ray Guillaume - Chrétien de Malesherbes Talleyrand Thérésa Tallien Gui - Jean - Baptiste Target Catherine Théot List of people associated with the French Revolution Influential thinkers Les Lumières Beaumarchais Edmund Burke Anacharsis Cloots Charles - Augustin de Coulomb Pierre Claude François Daunou Diderot Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson Antoine Lavoisier Montesquieu Thomas Paine Jean - Jacques Rousseau Abbé Sieyès Voltaire Mary Wollstonecraft Cultural impact La Marseillaise French Tricolour Liberté, égalité, fraternité Marianne Bastille Day Panthéon French Republican Calendar Cult of the Supreme Being Cult of Reason Temple of Reason Sans - culottes Metric system Phrygian cap Women in the French Revolution Symbolism in the French Revolution Historiography of the French Revolution Influence of the French Revolution Voltaire 's Candide Adaptations Candide, Part II ( 1760 novel ) Candide ( 1956 operetta ) Modern Interpretations Candy ( 1958 novel ) Candide ou l'optimisme au XXe siècle ( 1960 film ) Candy ( 1968 film ) Mondo candido ( 1975 film ) The Optimists ( 2006 film ) Related Cunégonde Pope Urban X A few acres of snow Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne Historical race concepts By color Black Bronze Brown Red White Yellow Anthropological Australoid Capoid Caucasoid Mongoloid Negroid Sub-types Alpine Arabid Armenoid Atlantid Borreby Brunn Caspian Dinaric East Baltic Ethiopid Hamitic Dravidian Irano - Afghan Japhetic Malay Mediterranean Neo-Mongoloid Neo-Danubian Nordic Northcaucasian Ladogan Lappish Pamirid Proto - Mongoloid Semitic Turanid Multiracial Miscegenation Ethnogenesis List of racially mixed groups Writers Louis Agassiz John Baker Erwin Baur John Beddoe Robert Bennett Bean François Bernier Renato Biasutti Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Franz Boas Paul Broca Alice Mossie Brues Halfdan Bryn Georges - Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon Charles Caldwell Petrus Camper Samuel A. Cartwright Houston Stewart Chamberlain Sonia Mary Cole Carleton S. Coon Georges Cuvier Jan Czekanowski Charles Davenport Joseph Deniker Egon Freiherr von Eickstedt Anténor Firmin Eugen Fischer John Fiske Francis Galton Stanley Marion Garn Reginald Ruggles Gates George Gliddon Arthur de Gobineau Madison Grant John Grattan Hans F.K. Günther Ernst Haeckel Frederick Ludwig Hoffman Earnest Hooton Julian Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley Calvin Ira Kephart Robert Knox Robert E. Kuttner Georges Vacher de Lapouge Fritz Lenz Carl Linnaeus Cesare Lombroso Bertil Lundman Felix von Luschan Dominick McCausland John Mitchell Ashley Montagu Lewis H. Morgan Samuel George Morton Josiah C. Nott Karl Pearson Oscar Peschel Isaac La Peyrère Charles Pickering Ludwig Hermann Plate Alfred Ploetz James Cowles Prichard Otto Reche Gustaf Retzius William Z. Ripley Alfred Rosenberg Benjamin Rush Henric Sanielevici Heinrich Schmidt Ilse Schwidetzky Charles Gabriel Seligman Giuseppe Sergi Samuel Stanhope Smith Herbert Spencer Morris Steggerda Lothrop Stoddard William Graham Sumner Thomas Griffith Taylor Paul Topinard John H. Van Evrie Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer Rudolf Virchow Voltaire Alexander Winchell Ludwig Woltmann Writings An Essay upon the Causes of the Different Colours of People in Different Climates ( 1744 ) The Outline of History of Mankind ( 1785 ) Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question ( 1849 ) An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races ( 1855 ) The Races of Europe ( Ripley, 1899 ) The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century ( 1899 ) Race Life of the Aryan Peoples ( 1907 ) Heredity in Relation to Eugenics ( 1911 ) Castes in India : Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development ( 1916 ) The Passing of the Great Race ( 1916 ) The Rising Tide of Color Against White World - Supremacy ( 1920 ) The Myth of the Twentieth Century ( 1930 ) Annihilation of Caste ( 1936 ) The Races of Europe ( Coon, 1939 ) An Investigation of Global Policy with the Yamato Race as Nucleus ( 1943 ) The Race Question ( 1950 ) Theories Eugenics Great chain of being Monogenism Polygenism Pre-Adamite Related History of anthropometry Racial categorization in India in Latin America in Brazil in Colombia in Singapore in the United States Scientific racism Nazism and race Racial hygiene Whiteness in the United States Whitening Branqueamento / Blanqueamiento Passing Racial stereotypes Martial race Master race Color names Colorism Négritude Social and political philosophy Philosophers Alinsky Ambedkar Arendt Aristotle Augustine Aurobindo Aquinas Aron Averroes Azurmendi Badiou Bakunin Baudrillard Bauman Benoist Bentham Berlin Bonald Bosanquet Burke Judith Butler Camus Chanakya Chomsky Cicero Comte Confucius De Beauvoir Debord Djilas Du Bois Durkheim Emerson Engels Foucault Fourier Franklin Gandhi Gehlen Gentile Al - Ghazali Gramsci Grotius Habermas Han Fei Hayek Hegel Heidegger Hobbes Hume Irigaray Jefferson Kant Kierkegaard Kirk Kropotkin Laozi Le Bon Le Play Leibniz Lenin Locke Luxemburg Machiavelli Maistre Malebranche Mao Marcuse Maritain Marsilius Marx Mencius Michels Mill Mises Montesquieu Möser Mozi Muhammad Negri Nehru Niebuhr Nietzsche Nozick Oakeshott Ortega Paine Pareto Pettit Plamenatz Plato Polanyi Popper Radhakrishnan Rand Rawls Renan Rothbard Rousseau Royce Ruskin Russell Sade Santayana Sarkar Sartre Schmitt Searle Shang Simonović Skinner Smith Socrates Sombart Spann Spencer Spinoza Spirito Stirner Strauss Sun Sun Tzu Taine Taylor Thucydides Thoreau Tocqueville Vivekananda Voltaire Walzer Weber Žižek Social theories Ambedkarism Anarchism Authoritarianism Collectivism Communism Communitarianism Conflict theories Confucianism Consensus theory Conservatism Contractualism Cosmopolitanism Culturalism Fascism Feminist political theory Gandhism Individualism Legalism Liberalism Libertarianism Mohism National liberalism Republicanism Social constructionism Social constructivism Social Darwinism Social determinism Socialism Utilitarianism Vaisheshika Social concepts Civil disobedience Democracy Four occupations Justice Law Mandate of Heaven Peace Property Revolution Rights Social contract Society War more... Related articles Jurisprudence Philosophy and economics Philosophy of education Philosophy of history Philosophy of love Philosophy of sex Philosophy of social science Political ethics Social epistemology Portal Task Force VIAF : 36925746 LCCN : n80126267 ISNI : 0000 0001 2128 0652 GND : 118627813 SELIBR : 100209 SUDOC : 027190099 BNF : cb11928669t ( data ) BIBSYS : 90672881 ULAN : 500354532 HDS : 16207 MusicBrainz : 571170e9 - bb0c - 4d12 - a9ad - 9c926fb784a8 NLA : 35153427 NDL : 00459873 NKC : jn19981002352 ICCU : IT ICCU CFIV 000105 RLS : 000017191 BNE : XX960938 CiNii : DA00244832 RKD : 256309 IATH : w6xs5t6n Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Voltaire&oldid=816939747 '' Categories : Voltaire French philosophers French writers 1694 births 1778 deaths Early Modern philosophers Enlightenment philosophers Exophonic writers French deists French dramatists and playwrights French essayists French fantasy writers French historians French memoirists French poets French satirists French science fiction writers Philosophers of sexuality Pseudonymous writers Les Neuf Sœurs Members of the Académie française Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Royal Society Honorary Members of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Pour le Mérite ( civil class ) Contributors to the Encyclopédie ( 1751 -- 72 ) French male dramatists and playwrights French male poets French male writers Anti-nationalists Age of Enlightenment Critics of religions Deist philosophers French Freemasons French anti -- death penalty activists Free speech activists French monarchists Lycée Louis - le - Grand alumni Philosophes People of the Ancien Régime People of the Regency of Philippe d'Orléans People imprisoned by lettre de cachet Burials at the Panthéon, Paris Writers from Paris 17th - century French people 18th - century French dramatists and playwrights 18th - century French novelists 18th - century French writers 18th - century philosophers Correspondents Hidden categories : Pages with reference errors CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list Pages with broken reference names CS1 French - language sources ( fr ) Use dmy dates from May 2016 Interlanguage link template link number All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from April 2016 Articles with unsourced statements from February 2017 Articles needing additional references from May 2017 All articles needing additional references Wikipedia articles needing clarification from June 2016 Articles containing French - language text All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from December 2017 Articles with permanently dead external links Articles with French - language external links Articles with Project Gutenberg links Articles with Internet Archive links Articles with LibriVox links Articles containing Hebrew - language text Articles containing Latin - language text AC with 20 elements Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers Wikipedia articles with ULAN identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Wikipedia articles with SBN identifiers Wikipedia articles with RKDartists identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Wikisource Afrikaans Alemannisch አማርኛ Aragonés Asturianu Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه বাংলা Bân - lâm - gú Башҡортса Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ भोजपुरी Български Bosanski Brezhoneg Буряад Català Чӑвашла Cebuano Čeština Chavacano de Zamboanga Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Emiliàn e rumagnòl Español Esperanto Estremeñu Euskara فارسی Fiji Hindi Français Frysk Gaeilge Gàidhlig Galego गोंयची कोंकणी / Gõychi Konknni 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hrvatski Ido Ilokano Bahasa Indonesia Interlingua Íslenska Italiano עברית Basa Jawa ქართული Қазақша Kiswahili Kurdî Кыргызча Кырык мары Latina Latviešu Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Ligure Limburgs Livvinkarjala La. lojban. 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Question: what is the meaning of the phrase ecrasez l infame
Answer: crush the infamous