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: