Voltaire
Sign in to saveFrançois-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his pen name Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher (philosophe), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit and his criticism of Christianity (especially of the Catholic Church) and of slavery, Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.
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Voltaire was a French writer and philosopher of the 1700s known for his sharp wit and his bold criticism of the Catholic Church and slavery, along with his passionate defense of free speech, religious freedom, and keeping religion separate from government. His ideas and writings made him one of the most influential thinkers of the Enlightenment era, a period that fundamentally shaped modern Western values around individual liberty and rational thought.
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Person · Open Library
- Born
- 21 November 1694
- Died
- 30 May 1778
- Works
- 3976
Top works
- Discours prononcez dans l'Académie françoise, le lundi 9. mai MDCCXLVI. a la reception de m. de Voltaire
- Voltaire de retour des ombres, et sur le point d'y retourner pour n'en plus revenir, a tous ceux qu'il a trompés ...
- Le préservatif
- Le Henriade de Voltaire
- Fragments sur l'Inde, sur le general Lalli, et sur le comte de Morangiés
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Writing · Paris, France
François-Marie Arouet, known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems,…
via TMDB
Works in European collections
36 objects attributed to Voltaire, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
Article
41 sectionsContents
- Early life
- Name
- Career
- Early fiction
- Exile in England
- Château de Cirey
- Prussia
- Geneva and Ferney
- Death and burial
- Writings
- History
- Poetry
- Prose
- Letters
- Religious and philosophical views
- Christianity
- Judaism
- Islam
- Drama ''Mahomet''
- Hinduism
- Confucianism
- Views on race and slavery
- Appreciation and influence
- Voltaire and Rousseau
- Legacy
- Works
- Non-fiction
- History
- Novellas
- Plays
- Poetry
- Collected works
- See also
- References
- Informational notes
- Citations
- Sources
- Further reading
- In French
- Primary sources
- External links
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his pen name Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher (philosophe), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit and his criticism of Christianity (especially of the Catholic Church) and of slavery, Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, 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, histories, and even scientific expositions. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and 2,000 books and pamphlets. Voltaire was one of the first authors to become renowned and commercially successful internationally. He was an outspoken advocate of civil liberties and was at constant risk from the strict censorship laws of the Catholic French monarchy. His polemics witheringly satirized intolerance and religious dogma, as well as the French institutions of his day. His best-known work and magnum opus, Candide, is a novella that comments on, criticizes, and ridicules many events, thinkers and philosophies of his time, most notably Gottfried Leibniz and his belief that our world is of necessity the "best of all possible worlds".
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1694 births1778 deaths18th-century French dramatists and playwrights18th-century French historians18th-century French male writers18th-century French memoirists18th-century French novelists18th-century French philosophers18th-century French poets18th century in Geneva18th-century pseudonymous writersAntisemitism in France
