Voltaire

1694–1778
Nationality: French
Historical Period: The 18th Century
Voltaire (1694-1778) was one of the leading figures of the French Enlightenment. He first made a name for himself as a poet and playwright before turning to political philosophy, history, religious criticism, and other literary activities.
Quotes from Voltaire:
- Voltaire on not “the best of all possible worlds”
- Voltaire laments the destruction of Lisbon in an earthquake and criticises the philosophers who thought that “all’s well with the world” and the religious who thought it was “God’s will”
- Voltaire in Candide says that “tending one’s own garden” is not only a private activity but also productive
- Voltaire argued that religious intolerance was against the law of nature and was worse than the “right of the tiger”
- Voltaire lampooned the excessively optimistic Leibnitzian philosophers in his philosophic tale Candide by exposing his characters to one disaster after another, like a tsunami in Lisbon, to show that this was not “the best of all possible worlds”
- Voltaire notes that where Commerce and Toleration predominate, a Multiplicity of Faiths can live together in Peace and Happiness
- Voltaire on the Benefits which Trade and Economic Abundance bring to People living in the Present Age
Titles from Voltaire:
- Author: Candide, ou l’Optimisme; traduit de l’Allemand de M. le Docteur Ralph
- Author: An Essay on Crimes and Punishments
- Author: Toleration and Other Essays
- Author: The Works of Voltaire. A Contemporary Version, in 21 vols.
- Author: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. I (Candide)
- Author: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. III (Philosophical Dictionary Part 1)
- Author: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. IV (Philosophical Dictionary Part 2)
- Author: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. V (Philosophical Dictionary Part 3)
- Author: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VI (Philosophical Dictionary Part 4)
- Author: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VII (Philosophical Dictionary Part 5)
- Author: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VIII The Dramatic Works Part 1
- Author: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. IX The Dramatic Works Part 1
- Author: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. X The Dramatic Works Part 1
- Author: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. XII (Age of Louis XIV)
- Author: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. XIX (Philosophical Letters)
- Author: The Works of Voltaire, Vol. XXI (A Biographical Critique of Voltaire by John Morely)