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{{Unreferenced|date=July 2007}}
{{two other uses||the singer of the same name|Voltaire (musician)|the sport horse|Voltaire (horse)}}
{{TOCleft}}{{Infobox Person
| name = Voltaire
| image = 358518.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = Voltaire at 24 by [[Nicolas de Largillière]].
| birth_date = {{birth date|1694|11|21|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Paris]], [[France]]
| death_date = {{death date|1778|5|30|df=y}} (age 83)
| death_place = Paris, France
| occupation = Writer and philosopher
| spouse =
| parents = François Arouet, father; Marie Marguerite d’Aumart, mother
| children =
}}

'''François-Marie Arouet''' ([[21 November]], [[1694]] – [[30 May]], [[1778]]), better known by the [[pen name]] '''Voltaire''', was a [[France|French]] [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] [[writer]], [[essayist]], [[deism|deist]] and [[philosophy|philosopher]] known for his [[wit]], philosophical sport, and defense of [[civil liberty|civil liberties]], including [[freedom of religion]] and the right to a [[fair trial]]. He was an outspoken supporter of [[social reform]] despite strict [[censorship]] and harsh penalties for those who broke them. A satirical [[polemic]]ist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize [[Christian Church]] [[dogma]] and the French institutions of his day.

==Life==
The French author François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire was born [[November 21]], [[1694]] in [[Paris]], the last of the three children of François Arouet ([[1650]]–[[January 1]], [[1722]]) a [[notary public|notary]] who was a minor treasury official, and his wife, Marie Marguerite d'Aumart (c.[[1660]]–[[July 13]], [[1701]]) from a noble family of [[Poitou]] province. Voltaire was educated by [[Jesuits]] at the [[Lycée Louis-le-Grand|Collège Louis-le-Grand]] (1704-11), where he learned Latin and Greek; later in life he became fluent in [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and [[English language|English]]. From 1711 to 1713 he studied [[law]]. Before devoting himself entirely to writing, Voltaire worked as a secretary to the French [[ambassador]] in [[Holland]], where he fell in [[love]] with a French [[refugee]] named Catherine Olympe Dunoyer. Their scandalous elopement was foiled by Voltaire's father and he was forced to return to France. Most of Voltaire's early life revolved around Paris until his exile. From the beginning Voltaire had trouble with the authorities for his energetic attacks on the government and the Catholic [[Church]]. These activities were to result in numerous imprisonments and exiles. In his early twenties he spent eleven months in the [[Bastille]] for allegedly writing satirical verses about the [[aristocracy]].

After graduating, Voltaire set out on a career in literature. His father, however, intended his son to be educated in the law. Voltaire, pretending to work in Paris as an assistant to a [[lawyer]], spent much of his time writing satirical poetry. When his father found him out, he again sent Voltaire to study law, this time in the provinces. Nevertheless, he continued to write, producing essays and historical studies not always noted for their accuracy. Voltaire's wit made him popular among some of the aristocratic families. One of his writings, about [[Louis XV of France|Louis XV]]'s regent, [[Philippe II, Duke of Orléans]], led to his being imprisoned in the Bastille. While there, he wrote his debut play, ''[[Oedipe (play)|Œdipe]]'', and adopted the name Voltaire which came from his hometown in southern France . ''Œdipe's'' success began Voltaire's influence and brought him into the French Enlightenment.
Voltaire was a prolific writer, and produced works in almost every [[literature|literary]] form, authoring plays, [[poem|poetry]], [[novel]]s, [[essay]]s, historical and scientific works, over 20,000 letters and over two thousand books and [[pamphlet]]s.

===Poetry===
From an early age, Voltaire displayed a talent for writing verse, and his first published work was poetry. He wrote two long poems, the ''[[Henriade]]'', and the ''[[Pucelle|La Pucelle d'Orléans]]'', besides many other smaller pieces.

The ''Henriade'' was written in imitation of [[Virgil]], using the [[Alexandrine]] couplet reformed and rendered monotonous for dramatic purposes. Voltaire lacked both enthusiasm for and understanding of the subject, which both negatively impacted the poem's quality. The ''Pucelle'', on the other hand, is a burlesque work attacking religion and history. Voltaire's minor poems are generally considered superior to either of these two works.

===Prose===
Many of Voltaire's [[prose]] works and romances, usually composed as pamphlets, were written as [[polemics]]. ''[[Candide]]'' attacks religious and philosophical [[optimism]]; ''L'Homme aux quarante ecus'', 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. Voltaire never dwells too long on a point, stays to laugh at what he has said, elucidates or comments on his own jokes, guffaws over them or exaggerates their form. ''Candide'' in particular is the best example of his style.
[[Image:Bust of Voltaire 2, Houdon..jpg|thumb|left|175px|Bust of Voltaire by [[Antoine Houdon|Houdon]].]]
Voltaire also has, in common with [[Jonathan Swift]], the distinction of paving the way for [[science fiction]]'s philosophical irony, particularly in his ''Micromegas''.

In general criticism and miscellaneous writing, Voltaire's writing was comparable with that in his other works. Almost all 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 ''Siécles''.

Voltaire's works, especially his private letters, constantly contain the word "''l'infâme''" and the expression (in full or abbreviated) "''écrasez l'infâme''." This expression has sometimes been misunderstood {{Fact|date=July 2007}}, but the real meaning is "crush the infamy". Particularly, it is the system which Voltaire saw around him, the effects of which he had felt in his own exiles and the confiscations of his books, and which he had seen in the hideous sufferings of [[Jean Calas|Calas]] and [[Jean-François de la Barre|La Barre]].

The most oft-cited Voltaire quotation is apocryphal. He is incorrectly credited with the quote "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." These were not his words but instead were written by [[Evelyn Beatrice Hall]] (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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Boller, Jr. |first=Paul F. |authorlink= |coauthors=George, John |title=They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions |year=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-19-505541-1 }}</ref><!-- p.124-126 -->

Voltaire's largest philosophical work is the ''[[Dictionnaire philosophique]]'', comprising articles contributed by him to the ''[[Encyclopédie]]'' and several minor pieces. It directed criticism at French political institutions, Voltaire's personal enemies, the [[Bible]], and the [[Roman Catholic Church]].

''On philosophy of Brahmins, [[India]] and [[Hinduism]]:''

He considered Indian civilization to be the ancestor civilization to western culture (Christians, Jews) and he considered Brahmins or Hindus to be the first philosophers. In his book ''[[Dictionnaire philosophique]]'', under the heading "Brahmins" the first sentence reads:
"Is it not probable that the Brahmins were the first legislators of the earth, the first philosophers, the first theologians?"
He was also fond of mildness, gentleness and sublime nature of [[Hindu philosophy]] or Brahaminical thoughts.

He was critical of Christian missionaries attempting to malign the Hindu religion and summarized it the following way:

''"This is only a small part of the ancient cosmogony of the Brahmins. Their rites, their pagodas, prove that among them everything was allegorical; they still represent virtue beneath the emblem of a woman who has ten arms, and who combats ten mortal sins represented by monsters. Our missionaries have not failed to take this image of virtue for that of the devil, and to assure us that the devil is worshipped in India. We have never been among these people but to enrich ourselves and to calumniate them. "''{{Fact|date=August 2007}}

=== New France ===
Voltaire was a critic of France's colonial policy in North America, dismissing the vast territory of [[New France]] as "[[a few acres of snow]]" (''"quelques arpents de neige"'') that produced little more than furs and required constant - and expensive - military protection from the mother country against Great Britain's [[13 Colonies]] to the south.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

===Letters===
Voltaire also engaged in an enormous amount of private correspondence during his life, totalling over 21,000 letters. His personality shows through in the letters that he wrote: his energy and versatility, his unhesitating flattery when he chose to flatter, his ruthless sarcasm, his unscrupulous business faculty and his resolve to double and twist in any fashion so as to escape his enemies.
===Deism===
Voltaire, like many key figures of the [[European Enlightenment]], was a [[Deist]]. He did not believe that absolute faith was needed to believe in God. He wrote, "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." [http://deism.com/Voltaire.htm]

Rejecting strictly standardized religion, Voltaire believed in a universe based solely on reason, and without supplementation or foundation in any particular or singular religious text or tradition of revelation. In fact, Voltaire's combination of reason and respect for nature reflected the contemporary [[Pantheism]], increasingly popular throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and which continues as a form known as [[Deism]], or as "Voltairean [[Pantheism]]", today.

From translated works on Confucianism and Legalism, Voltaire drew on Chinese concepts of politics and philosophy - which were based on rational principles, to look critically at European organized religion and hereditary aristocracy.

===Christianity ===
Voltaire, though he is often thought of as an [[atheist]], did in fact participate in religious activities, and even had a [[chapel]] erected on his estate at [[Ferney]]. The primary source for this misconception is the line from one of his poems that effectively translates into "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." However, if one reads the entire work, it reveals Voltaire's true sentiments. This of course is not to say that Voltaire was a strict [[Roman Catholic]], because he did indeed have many issues with religious [[dogma]] of the day. Nevertheless, Voltaire was certainly not an atheist as many would believe. Many also conceive Voltaire as an atheist because of his criticism for the Church. It may be pointed out that Voltaire's quarrel was with the institution of the Church, being the worldly body, not the existence of God.
[[Image:Voltaire's deathmask.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Voltaire's [[death mask]].]]
In terms of religious texts, Voltaire was largely of the opinion that the Bible was 1) an outdated legal and/or moral reference, 2) by and large a metaphor, but one that still taught some good lessons, and 3) a work of Man, not a divine gift. These beliefs did not hinder his religious practice, however, though it did gain him somewhat of a bad reputation in the [[Catholic Church]]. It may be noted that Voltaire was indeed seen as somewhat of a nuisance to many believers, and was almost universally known; [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] wrote to his father the year of Voltaire's death, saying, "The arch-scoundrel Voltaire has finally kicked the bucket...."{{Fact|date=July 2007}}

There is an apocryphal story that his home at Ferney was purchased by the Geneva Bible Society and used for printing Bibles, but this appears to be due to a misunderstanding of the 1849 annual report of the [[American Bible Society]] {{PDFlink|[http://www.nzarh.org.nz/journal/2004v77n1aut.pdf]|2.18&nbsp;[[Mebibyte|MiB]]<!-- application/pdf, 2288028 bytes -->}}. Voltaire's chateau is now owned and administered by the [[French Ministry of Culture]].

==Legacy==
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 force useful only as a counterbalance since its "religious tax" or the [[tithe]] helped to create a strong backing for revolutionaries.
[[Image:Voltaire-Baquoy.gif|thumb|right|200px|Voltaire at [[Frederick the Great]]'s ''[[Sanssouci]]''. Engraving by [[Pierre Charles Baquoy|Baquoy]].]]
Voltaire distrusted [[democracy]], which he saw as propagating the idiocy of the masses.{{Fact|date=August 2007}}To Voltaire, only an enlightened [[monarch]] or an [[Enlightened absolutism|enlightened absolutist]], advised by [[philosopher]]s like himself, could bring about change as it was in the king's rational interest to improve the power and wealth of his subjects and kingdom. Voltaire essentially believed monarchy to be the key to progress and change.

He supported "bringing order" through military means in his letters to Russia's [[Catherine II of Russia|Catherine the Great]]{{Fact|date=August 2007}} and [[Prussia]]'s [[Frederick II of Prussia|Frederick the Great]]{{Fact|date=August 2007}}, in which he strongly praised the [[Partitions of Poland|Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]].{{Fact|date=August 2007}}

He was, however, deeply opposed to the use of war and violence as means for the resolution of controversies, as he repeatedly and forcefully stated in many of his works, including the "Philosophical Dictionary," where he described war as an "infernal enterprise" and those who resort to it "ridiculous murderers." {{Fact|date=July 2007}}<!-- Can we please get a more specific cite? ''Philosophical Dictionary'' is a large and disorganized work. -->
He also believed that Africans were a separate species, inferior to the Europeans, and that ancient Jews were "an ignorant and barbarous people."
[[Image:Voltaire's chateau, Ferney.JPG|thumb|right|400px|Voltaire's ''[[château]]'' at [[Ferney]], [[France]].]]
He is best known today for his novel, ''[[Candide]], ou l'Optimisme'' (Candide, or Optimism, 1759), which satirized the philosophy of Leibniz. ''Candide'' was also subject to censorship and Voltaire jokingly claimed that the actual author was a certain "Dr DeMad" in a letter, where he reaffirmed the main polemical stances of the text. [http://humanities.uchicago.edu/homes/VSA/Candide/Candide.letter.html]

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, ''The Three Impostors''.

[[Jean-Baptiste Rousseau]] (not to be confused with philosopher [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]) sent a copy of his "Ode to Posterity" to Voltaire. Voltaire read it through and said, "I do not think this poem will reach its destination." {{Fact|date=February 2007}}

Voltaire is remembered and honored in France as a courageous polemicist who indefatigably fought for [[civil rights]] &mdash; the [[right to a fair trial]] and [[freedom of religion]] &mdash; and who denounced the hypocrisies and injustices of the ''[[ancien régime]]''. The ''ancien régime'' involved an unfair balance of power and taxes between the First Estate (the clergy), the Second Estate (the nobles), and the Third Estate (the commoners and middle class, who were burdened with most of the taxes).
[[Image:Voltaire's tomb.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Voltaire's tomb in [[Paris]]' [[Pantheon (Paris)|Pantheon]].]]
[[Thomas Carlyle]] argued that, while Voltaire was unsurpassed in literary form, not even the most elaborate of his works were of much value for matter and that he never uttered an original idea of his own.

Voltaire did not let his ideals interfere with the acquisition of his fortune. He was a millionaire by the time he was forty after cultivating the friendship of the Paris brothers who had a contract to supply the French army with food and munitions and being invited to participate with them in this extremely profitable enterprise. According to a review in the March 7, 2005 issue of ''The New Yorker'' of Voltaire's Garden, a mathematician friend of his realized in 1728 that the French government had authorized a lottery in which the prize was much greater than the collective cost of the tickets. He and Voltaire formed a syndicate, collected all the money, and became moneylenders to the great houses of Europe. Voltaire complained that lotteries exploited the poor.{{Fact|date=August 2007}}

The town of [[Ferney]], France, where Voltaire lived out the last 20 years of his life (though he died in Paris), is now named [[Ferney-Voltaire]] in honor of its most famous resident. His ''[[château]]'' is a [[museum]]; as of July 2007, it was closed for restoration, with no date available for its reopening to the public.

Voltaire's library is preserved intact in the [[Russian National Library]] at [[St. Petersburg]], [[Russia]].

In 1791 Voltaire's remains were interred at Paris' [[Panthéon, Paris|Panthéon]].

According to poet [[Richard Armour (poet)|Richard Armour]], Voltaire's friendship with [[Frederick William II of Prussia|Frederick William]] existed because "Frederick considered Voltaire to be immensely clever and so did Voltaire."

==The name "Voltaire"==
The name "Voltaire," which he adopted in 1718 not only as a pen name but also in daily use, is an [[anagram]] of the Latinized spelling of his surname "Arouet" and the letters of the sobriquet "le jeune" ("the younger"): AROVET Le Ieune. The name also echoes in reversed order the syllables of a familial château in the [[Poitou]] region: "[[Airvault]]". The adoption of this name after his incarceration at the Bastille is seen by many to mark a formal separation on the part of Voltaire from his family and his past.

[[Richard Holmes]] in "Voltaire's Grin" also believes that the name "Voltaire" arose from the transposition of letters. But he adds that a writer such as Voltaire would have intended the name to carry its connotations of speed and daring. These come from associated words such as: "voltige" (acrobatics on a trapeze or horse), "volte-face" (spinning about to face your enemies), and "volatile" (originally any winged creature).

== Famous Quotes ==

"When one speaks to another man who doesn't understand him, and when the man who's speaking no longer understands, it's metaphysics."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778 / Candide, 1759)<sup>1</sup>

"There are no sects in geometry."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778 / Philosophical Dictionary, 1764)<sup>1</sup>

"Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778 / Philosophical Dictionary, 1764)<sup>1</sup>

"The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost their power of reasoning."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778 / Philosophical Dictionary, 1764)<sup>1</sup>

"Theological religion is the source of all imaginable follies and disturbances; it is the parent of fanaticism and civil discord; it is the enemy of mankind."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778 / Philosophical Dictionary, 1764)<sup>1</sup>

"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O, Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778 / Letter to M. Damilaville / May 16, 1767)<sup>1</sup>

"I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778 / Letter to d'Alembert / August 20, 1770)<sup>1</sup>

"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778 / For and Against)<sup>1</sup>

"Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and bloody religion that has ever infected the world."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778 / Letter to Frederick the Great)<sup>1</sup>

"We only half live when we only half think."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778)<sup>1</sup>

"The sentiment of justice is so natural, and so universally acquired by all mankind, that it seems to be independent of all law, all party, all religion."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778)<sup>1</sup>

"If God has created us in His image, we have more than returned the compliment."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778)<sup>1</sup>

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778)<sup>1</sup>

"Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy; the mad daughter of a wise mother"
(Voltaire / 1694-1778)<sup>1</sup>

"It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778)<sup>1</sup>

"A witty saying proves nothing."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778)<sup>1</sup>

"A little evil is often necessary for obtaining a great good."
(Voltaire / 1694-1778)<sup>1</sup>

==Bibliography==
===Major works===
*''Œdipe'' (1718)
*''Zaïre'' ([[1732]])
*''Lettres philosophiques sur les Anglais'' (1733), revised as ''[[Letters on the English]]'' (circa 1778)
*''Le Mondain'' (1736)
*''Sept Discours en Vers sur l'Homme'' (1738)
*''[[Zadig]]'' (1747)
*''[[Micromégas]]'' (1752)
*''L'Orphelin de la Chine'' (1755)
*''[[Candide]]'' (1758)
*''[[Dictionnaire philosophique]]'' (1764)
*''[[L'Ingénu]]'' (1767)
*''[[La Princesse de Babylone]]'' (1768)
*''[[Épître à l'Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs]]'' (''[[Letter to the author of The Three Impostors]]'') (1770)

===Plays===
Voltaire wrote between fifty and sixty plays, including a few unfinished ones. Among them are these:
*''[[Oedipe(play)|Œdipe]]'' (1718)
*''[[Eriphile]]'' (1732)
*''[[Irène]]''
*''[[Mahomet (play)|Mahomet]]''
*''[[Mérope]]''
*''[[Nanine]]''
*''[[Zaire (play)|Zaïre]]'' (1732)

===Historical===
*''History of Charles XII, King of Sweden'' (1731)
*''The Age of Louis XIV'' (1752)
*''The Age of Louis XV'' (1746 - 1752)
*''Annals of the Empire - Charlemagne, A.D. 742 - Henry VII 1313'', Vol. I (1754)
*''Annals of the Empire - Louis of Bavaria, 1315 to Ferdinand II 1631'' Vol. II (1754)
*''History of the Russian Empire Under Peter the Great'' (Vol. I 1759; Vol. II 1763)

==See also==
*[[Classical liberalism]]
*[[Contributions to liberal theory]]
*[[List of Freemasons]]
*[[List of coupled cousins]]
*[[Political fiction#Classics|Political fiction]]

==External links==
{{Wikisourcelang|fr|Voltaire|Voltaire}}
{{commons}}
{{wikiquote}}
*[http://www.bacdefrancais.net/ An analysis of Voltaire's texts (in the "textes" topic) (in French)]
*{{gutenberg author}}
*[http://history.hanover.edu/texts/voltaire/volindex.html Voltaire's writings from Philosophical Dictionary]
*[http://societe-voltaire.org/ Société Voltaire]
*[http://www.harrymaugans.com/2006/03/30/voltaires-candide/ Voltaire's Candide and Leibniz]
*[http://www.visitvoltaire.com/ VisitVoltaire.com]
**more on [[Émilie du Châtelet]] ([http://www.visitvoltaire.com/emilie_du_chatelet_bio.htm biography and portraits], and [http://www.visitvoltaire.com/love_story_voltaire.htm more])
*[http://www.ville-ge.ch/imv/ Institut et Musée Voltaire, Geneva, Switzerland]
*[http://www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/ Voltaire Foundation, Oxford, United Kingdom]
*[http://www.harrymaugans.com/2006/04/18/worldly-and-personal-influences-on-voltaire%e2%80%99s-writing/ Worldly and Personal Influences on Voltaire’s Writing]
*[http://efts.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/VOLTAIRE/restricted/VOLTAIRE.bib.html A complete bibliography]
*[http://atheisme.free.fr/Biographies/Voltaire_e.htm Biography and quotes of Voltaire]
*e-texts of works by Voltaire
**[http://voltaire.dailytangents.com Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary] searchable at dailytangents.com
**[http://www.bartleby.com/people/Voltaire.html HTML] at bartleby.com
**extracts from ''[http://history.hanover.edu/texts/voltaire/volindex.html Dictionnaire philosophique]''
**[http://www.ebooktakeaway.com/voltaire Free book downloads in HTML, PDF, text formats] at ebooktakeaway.com
*[http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_200205/ai_n12610562 Whose Line Is It Anyway?]
*[http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/deismfre.htm Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy on Voltaire]
*[http://thegreatdebate.org.uk/Voltaire.html The Life of Voltaire] Essay by Caspar J M Hewett
*[http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jbourj/money3.htm Voltaire on the 10 French Franc banknote.]
* [http://www.intratext.com/Catalogo/Autori/AUT396.HTM Voltaire's works]: works: text, concordances and frequency list
*[http://www.c18th.com/ Eighteenth Century Bibliography]
*[http://www.scottlondon.com/reviews/saul.html "Voltaire's Bastards" by John Ralston Saul] a book review on this title.
*[http://www.ciudadseva.com/libros/voltaire.htm ''Voltaire's Heart / El corazón de Voltaire''] (A novel by Luis López Nieves)

== Notes ==
<div class="references-small">
<references/>
</div>

==References==
1. http://atheisme.free.fr/Quotes/Voltaire.htm
*{{1911}}
*[[Jackson J. Spielvogel|Spielvogel, J. J.]], 2003. ''Western Civilization -- Volume II: Since 1500'', 5th. ed.
*"Voltaire, Author and Philosopher." Lucidcafé. [[8 October]] [[2005]], [[25 November]] [[2005]] [http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95nov/voltaire.html].
*"Voltaire", in Richard Shenkman, ''Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of World History'' (HarperCollins, 1993), pp. 148-51.
*Vernon, Thomas S., "[http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/voltvern.htm Voltaire]."
*Holmes, Richard. "Voltaire's Grin" in ''New York Review of Books'', 30/11/1995, pp. 49 - 55, and in Sidetracks: explorations of a romantic biographer, HarperCollins, 2000 , pp. 345 - 366.
*[[Bernard Lewis|Lewis, Bernard]] (1999). ''Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice''. W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-31839-7
*McNeil, Russell. "Voltaire (1694)." Malaspina Great Books. [[25 November]] [[2005]] [http://www.malaspina.org/home.asp?topic=./search/details&lastpage=./search/results&ID=127].
*Muller, Jerry Z., 2002. ''The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Western Thought''. Anchor Books.
*Wade, Ira O., 1967. ''Studies on Voltaire''. New York: Russell & Russell.

<!--EDIT NOTE: This [http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/franklin_b/franklin_b.html website] shows [[Benjamin Franklin]]s involvement with the [[Freemasons]] and can be used to back up claim in introductory section that they were 'fellow masons'. -->

{{start box}}{{succession box|
title= [[List of members of the Académie française#Seat 33|Seat 33]]<br>[[Académie française]] | years=1746&ndash;1778 |
before= [[Jean Bouhier]] |
after= [[Jean-François Ducis]]
}}
{{end box}}

{{Enlightenment}}

{{Persondata
|NAME=Voltaire
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Arouet, François-Marie (birth name); The Dictator of Letters
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=Enlightenment philosopher.
|DATE OF BIRTH=[[21 November]], [[1694]]
|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Paris]], [[France]]
|DATE OF DEATH=[[30 May]], [[1778]]
|PLACE OF DEATH=[[Paris]], [[France]]
}}
[[Category:Voltaire| ]]
[[Category:Deist thinkers|Voltaire]]
[[Category:Early modern philosophers|Voltaire]]
[[Category:French philosophers|Voltaire]]
[[Category:Enlightenment philosophers|Voltaire]]
[[Category:Philosophy of sexuality|Voltaire]]
[[Category:French dramatists and playwrights|Voltaire]]
[[Category:French historians|Voltaire]]
[[Category:French essayists|Voltaire]]
[[Category:French humanists|Voltaire]]
[[Category:French satirists|Voltaire]]
[[Category:French science fiction writers|Voltaire]]
[[Category:French fantasy writers|Voltaire]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie française|Voltaire]]
[[Category:Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni|Voltaire]]
[[Category:Burials at the Panthéon|Voltaire]]
[[Category:People from Paris|Voltaire]]
[[Category:French vegetarians|Voltaire]]
[[Category:Anti-death penalty activists|Voltaire]]
[[Category:1694 births|Voltaire]]
[[Category:1778 deaths|Voltaire]]

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Revision as of 16:01, 14 September 2007

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