Voltaire

Biography

Voltaire was the pen name of François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778), a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher, and polemicist—one of the most influential figures in Western intellectual history. Born in Paris, he became famous for his wit, his advocacy of civil liberties, and his attacks on religious intolerance and political tyranny. Voltaire wrote in virtually every literary form: plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical works. His philosophical tale Candide (1759) is one of the most widely read works in world literature. Voltaire’s defense of freedom of expression and his skeptical rationalism helped lay the intellectual foundations for the French Revolution and modern liberal democracy.