1. Voltaire - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia FrançoisMarie Arouet (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), better known by the pen name voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire

Voltaire From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation search For other uses, see Voltaire (disambiguation) Fran§ois-Marie Arouet Voltaire at 24, by Nicolas de Largilli¨re Pseudonym Voltaire Born November 21 Paris France Died May 30 Paris France Occupation ... French Influenced Victor Hugo Thomas Paine Marquis de Sade Fran§ois-Marie Arouet 21 November 30 May ), better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer essayist ... deist and philosopher known for his wit , philosophical sport, and defense of civil liberties , including freedom of religion . He was an outspoken supporter of social reform despite strict censorship laws and harsh penalties for those who broke them. A satirical polemicist , he frequently made use of his works to criticize Catholic Church dogma and the French institutions of his day Voltaire was one of several Enlightenment figures (along with John Locke and Thomas Hobbes ) whose works and ideas influenced important thinkers of both the American and French Revolutions Contents Biography Poetry Prose New France ... edit Biography The French author Fran§ois-Marie Arouet, aka Voltaire, was born

2. Voltaire | Author And Philosopher Biographical information on voltaire. http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95nov/voltaire.html

Resources Menu Categorical Index Library Gallery Voltaire Author and Philosopher Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. Francois Marie Arouet (pen name Voltaire ) was born on November 21, 1694 in Paris. Voltaire's intelligence, wit and style made him one of France's greatest writers and philosophers. Young Francois Marie received his education at "Louis-le-Grand," a Jesuit college in Paris where he said he learned nothing but "Latin and the Stupidities." He left school at 17 and soon made friends among the Parisian aristocrats. His humorous verses made him a favorite in society circles. In 1717, his sharp wit got him into trouble with the authorities. He was imprisoned in the Bastille for eleven months for writing a scathing satire of the French government. During his time in prison Francois Marie wrote "Oedipe" which was to become his first theatrical success and adopted his pen name "Voltaire." In 1726, Voltaire insulted the powerful young nobleman, "Chevalier De Rohan," and was given two options: imprisonment or exile. He chose exile and from 1726 to 1729 lived in England. While in England Voltaire was attracted to the philosophy of John Locke and ideas of mathematician and scientist, Sir Isaac Newton . He studied England's Constitutional Monarchy and its religious tolerance. Voltaire was particularly interested in the philosophical rationalism of the time, and in the study of the natural sciences. After returning to Paris he wrote a book praising English customs and institutions. It was interpreted as criticism of the French government and in 1734, Voltaire was forced to leave Paris again.

3. VOLTAIRE.NET Singer/songwriter whose music has its roots imbedded in European folk music. Includes biography, news, and show schedule. http://www.voltaire.net/

4. Voltaire voltaire is remembered as a crusader against tyranny and bigotry. Compared to Rousseau s (17121778) rebelliousness and idealism, voltaire s world view was http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/voltaire.htm

Choose another writer in this calendar: by name: A B C D ... Z by birthday from the calendar Credits and feedback TimeSearch for Books and Writers by Bamber Gascoigne Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer, satirist, the embodiment of the 18th-century Enlightenment. Voltaire is remembered as a crusader against tyranny and bigotry. Compared to Rousseau's (1712-1778) rebelliousness and idealism, Voltaire's world view was more skeptical. His great contemporary thinker Voltaire disliked, but both of their ideas influenced deeply the French Revolution. In 1761 Voltaire wrote to Rousseau: "One feels like crawling on all fours after reading your work." " Liberty of thought is the life of the soul." (from Essay on Epic Poetry Voltaire did not support the dogmatic theology of institutional religions, his religiosity was anticlerical. With his brother Armand, who was a fundamentalist Catholic, Voltaire did not get on as well as with his sister. Atheism Voltaire considered not as baleful as fanaticism, but nearly always fatal to virtue. The doctrines about the Trinity or the Incarnation he dismissed as nonsense. As a humanist, Voltaire advocated religious and social tolerance, but not necessarily in a direct way. Well known is Voltaire's hostility toward the Jews. His play LE FANATISME, OU MAHOMET LE PROPHÈTE (1741), which portrayed the founder of Islam as an intriguer and greedy for power, was denounced by Catholic clergymen. They had no doubts that the true target was Christian fanaticism. However, Pope Benedict XIV, whom Voltaire dedicated the work, replied by saying that he read it with great pleasure.

5. MySpace.com - Voltaire - NEW YORK, NEW YORK - Acoustic / Alternative / Gothic - voltaire is often described as a modern day renaissance man. He is a singer/ performer, creator of comic books, animation and toys. http://www.myspace.com/voltairenyc

var disableMSPLinks=1; User Shortcuts: Send Message Forward to Friend Add to Friends Add to Favorites Block User Add to Group Rank User Instant Message People MySpace Web Music Video Home Browse Search Invite ... Artist Signup Voltaire Acoustic / Alternative / Gothic "Gothic Renaissance man with Gypsy pirate band" NEW YORK, NEW YORK United States Profile Views: 772759 Last Login: 4/5/2008 View My: Pics Videos Contacting Voltaire MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/voltairenyc Voltaire: General Info Member Since Band Website voltaire.net Band Members Voltaire-vocals/guitar Gregor Kitzis-violin Matthew Goeke-cello Kiku Collins-Trumpet, Clarinet George Grant-bass Glenn Sorino- drums Stephen Moses- drums Grisha Alexiev- drums Influences Rasputina, Morrissey, Tom Waits, Cab Callaway, Danny Elfman Sounds Like VOLTAIRE ON FOX NEWS-2006 VOLTAIRE SINGS "BRAINS!" ON "Billy And Mandy" Episode "Little Rock of Horrors" My song, LAND OF THE DEAD on Cartoon Network! IF YOU LIKE STAR TREK....

6. Voltaire Quotes - The Quotations Page voltaire; Appreciation is a wonderful thing It makes what is excellent in voltaire; I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one O Lord, http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Voltaire

Quotation Search by keyword or author: Home Weblog Quotes of the Day Motivational ... Read books online at our other site: The Literature Page Quotations by Author Voltaire (1694 - 1778) [more author details] Showing quotations 1 to 30 of 42 total We have 1 book review related to Voltaire. ...the safest course is to do nothing against one's conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death. Voltaire A witty saying proves nothing. Voltaire - More quotations on: [ Quotations All sects are different, because they come from men; morality is everywhere the same, because it comes from God. Voltaire - More quotations on: [ Morality Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills. Voltaire Anything too stupid to be said is sung. Voltaire Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

7. Voltaire | Unified Fabrics | Enterprise Data Center | Infiniband | Next Generati voltaire provides grid backbone solutions for networked computing in the next generation data center. The company focuses on improving data center http://www.voltaire.com/

sitemap privacy terms and conditions contact us ... home Networked Computing Infrastructure for the Next Generation Data Center FEATURED INDUSTRIES more industries Manufacturing The key to efficient Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) and Electronic Data Applications (EDA) is finding a way to run tests and conduct analysis faster... Energy ... Business units across the capital markets are intent on maximizing the effectiveness of their trading algorithms and strategies... CASE STUDY Tokyo Institute of Technology Picks Voltaire for Supercomputer The Tokyo Tech system is Japan's largest grid and is the seventh largest supercomputer in the world as ranked by the Top500. Synopsys-Voltaire Case Study Speeding EDA Design Cycles more Voltaire Appoints Networking Veterans Rafi Maor and Yaffa Krindel to Board of Directors Voltaire Switches Included in New PNNL Supercomputer Dedicated to Accelerating Environmental Science Research more WHITEPAPERS High-Performance Storage Solutions Using RDMA Closing the Gap in High Performance Clusters and Grids Low Latency Market Data Solutions more PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT Voltaire Grid Director ISR 2012 The Industry’s First "DDR by Design" 20 Gbps InfiniBand Switch Enabling Scalable High-Performance Clusters with Ultra-Low BER

8. Voltaire Foundation Foundation at the University of Oxford dedicated to the study of voltaire and the Enlightenment. Foundation publications, courses, and projects. http://www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/

VF sponsors Making gifts from the U.S.A. ISECS ISECS-direct ... University of Oxford The Voltaire Foundation is a research department in the University of Oxford, publishing in the area of the Eighteenth century, especially the French Enlightenment. Order books Catalogue Special offers! Complete Works of Voltaire ... About Voltaire *Some of the pages and links in this site are in pdf format. Click here to download a free Adobe pdf reader. Orders

9. Voltaire's Page Biographical information on voltaire, pictures, and links to outside sources of information on this French author and philosopher. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7308/

This page is dedicated to Voltaire! "The story of Zeus transforming himself into a swan so that he might couple with Leda, they call myth, but the tale about a holy ghost impregnating a virgin, they believe..." - Anonymous OR About Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire: Voltaire - a brief biography An Essay on Voltaire by Clarence Darrow Voltaire the Incomparable Infidel by Joseph Lewis Lies about Voltaire's death... Three of his major works... Philosophical Dictionary Candide Candide or Micromegas (French) Voltaire in Art and Literature... Statue of Voltaire by Pigalle Portrait of Voltaire by unknown artist Portrait of Voltaire as a Young Man by Largillière Visitors to Ferney ... Voltaire Organizations: Voltaire Foundation Voltaire Society The Internet Infidels Sign My Guestbook or View My Guestbook or Write me: arouet@geocities.com This page created by F. DeVenuto

10. Voltaire Network voltaire Network Information base about the 9/11th attacks Pentagate by Thierry Meyssan About the voltaire Network Contacts - RSS http://www.voltairenet.org/

Non Aligned Press Network Front Page Voltaire, international edition Focus Opinion-editorials decyphered ... Subscription Learning about the Past to Understand the Present US secret services in between China and Tibet by Comandante Fidel Castro La Havane (Cuba) Focus The Tibet images published by the CNN are simplistic: on the one hand they show the Chinese as the bad guys because they are communist; on the other hand we have the Tibet people, the Buddhists. But Comandante Fidel Castro warns that all that is but mere propaganda. The history of that Asian region discloses the truth, the old causes and disputes between the United States and China: the adhesion of Tibet to the Kuomintang to fight Mao and the Buddhist guerrilla under the command of the CIA. New Orient News The Kuwaiti mediation Starts Today The Arab summit is still influencing most of the political movements and the current events in the area and Lebanon. Lebanese house speaker waits for the summit’s results on the ground and for the Arab league secretary general’s communications with Arab leaders. He pointed out that there are undeclared issues that the Arab capitals discuss concerning the condition in Lebanon. The press focused on the Israeli military exercises which the are biggest on the level of the Middle East and read their goal and reflection on the general political context. ... Focus George Bush will play all he’s got The resignation of Admiral Fallon will provoke renewed fighting in Iraq by Thierry Meyssan

11. Voltaire (by Clarence Darrow) The full text of Clarence Darrow s essay on voltaire. http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/darrow5.htm

Voltaire by Clarence Darrow [hand-typed and edited from two sources by Cliff Walker] Index: Historical Writings (Voltaire) Index: Historical Writings (Darrow) Index: Historical Writings (Biography) Home to: Positive Atheism Jim Herrick Voltaire 1894 Robert Green Ingersoll Voltaire, The Incomparable Infidel Joseph Lewis Voltaire Thomas S. Vernon Voltaire was born in Paris in 1694. At that time, Louis XIV was on the throne in France. Though long years of profligacy and dissipation the lords and rulers of France had reduced the country to poverty and the people to slavery and superstition. France was nothing but the king and the favorites of the court. Noblemen, priests and women of easy virtue were the rulers, and people lived only to furnish them amusement and dissipation. Everyone believed in miracles, witchcraft and revealed religion. They not only believed in old miracles but in new ones. A person may be intellectual and believe in miracles, but the miracles must be very old. Doctors plied their trade through sorcery and sacred charms. Lawyers helped keep the poor in subjection; the criminal code was long, cruel and deadly. The priest, the doctor and the lawyer lived for the rich and helped make slaves of the poor. Doctors still believe in sorcery, but they administer their faith cures through a bottle instead of vulgar witchcraft. Lawyers still keep the poor in their place by jails and barbarous laws, but the criminal code is shorter and less severe. When Voltaire was born there was really but one church which, of course, was ignorant, tyrannical and barbarous in the extreme. All creeds are alike, and whenever there is but one, and the rulers honestly believe in that one, they are bound to be ignorant, barbarous and cruel. All sorts of heresies were punishable by death. If anyone dared to write a pamphlet or book that questioned any part of the accepted faith, the book was at once consigned to flames and the author was lucky if he did not meet the same fate. Religion was not maintained by the precepts of the priest, but by the prison, the torture chamber and the fagot. Everyone believed; no one questioned. The religious creeds, while strict and barbarous, did not interfere with the personal conduct of any of the rulers. They were left free to act as they pleased, so long as they professed to believe in the prevailing faith.

12. Voltaire - Wikiquote Letters of voltaire and Frederick the Great (New York Brentano s, 1927), transl. Richard Aldington, letter 130 from voltaire to Frederick II of Prussia, http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire

Voltaire From Wikiquote Jump to: navigation search What we find in books is like the fire in our hearths. We fetch it from our neighbor's, we kindle it at home, we communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all. . Fran§ois-Marie Arouet ), better known by his pen name Voltaire , was a French writer, deist, and philosopher. See also: Candide Contents Sourced Unsourced Misattributed External links ... edit Sourced La vertu s'avilit   se justifier. Virtue debases itself in justifying itself. Oedipe , act II, scene IV (1718) C'est un poids bien pesant qu'un nom trop t´t fameux. Quite a heavy weight, a name too quickly famous. La Henriade, chant troisi¨me, l.41 (1722) L'homme est libre au moment qu'il veut l'ªtre. Man is free at the instant he wants to be. Source Brutus , act II, scene I (1730) Opinions have caused more ills than the plague or earthquakes on this little globe of ours. Les mortels sont ©gaux; ce n'est pas la naissance, C'est la seule vertu qui fait la diff©rence. All men are equal; it is not their birth, But virtue itself that makes the difference.

13. Voltaire (French Philosopher And Author) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia Britannica online encyclopedia article on voltaire one of the greatest of all French writers. Although only a few of his works are still read, he continues http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9106001/Voltaire

document.writeln(''); document.writeln('Initializing application...'); Username Password Remember me Forgot your password? Browse Shop Log In Search Site: Voltaire French philosopher and author pseudonym of Main born Nov. 21, 1694, Paris, France died May 30, 1778, Paris one of the greatest of all French writers. Although only a few of his works are still read, he continues to be held in worldwide repute as a courageous crusader against tyranny, bigotry, and cruelty. Through its critical capacity, wit Citations MLA Style: Voltaire http://www.britannica.com/bps/topic/632488/Voltaire APA Style: Voltaire . (2008). In http://www.britannica.com/bps/topic/632488/Voltaire Voltaire Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post. If you think a reference to this article on "Voltaire" will enhance your Web site, blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article, and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service. You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.

14. Voltaire Quotes 177 quotes and quotations by voltaire. voltaire I do not agree with what you have to say, but I ll defend to the death your right to say it. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/v/voltaire.html

Add the "Quote of the Day" to Your Site or Blog - it's EASY! Home Quote Topics Quote Keywords ... Author Nationalities Authors: A B C D ... Z Web brainyquote.com Voltaire Quotes Type: Writer Quotes Category: French Writer Quotes Date of Birth: November 21 Date of Death: May 30 Nationality: French Find on Amazon: Voltaire Related Authors: Francois de La Rochefoucauld Joseph Joubert Simone de Beauvoir Nicolas de Chamfort ... Madame de Stael A witty saying proves nothing. Voltaire All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God. Voltaire All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. Voltaire All styles are good except the tiresome kind. Voltaire All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women. Voltaire An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination. Voltaire Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. Voltaire Anyone who seeks to destroy the passions instead of controlling them is trying to play the angel. Voltaire Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.

15. Voltaire Should the police be looking for him, voltaire had an escape route planned, and money stashed in foreign countries. voltaire social reform writer. http://www.visitvoltaire.com/voltaire_bio.htm

English Deutsch Home Tours of the Chateau ... and Places Nearby Voltaire Emilie du Chatelet A Love Story Voltaire and Emilie Picture Gallery ... Site Map Left: Voltaire (age 41) by Maurice Quentin de La Tour Right: Voltaire (age 55) Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire born: Nov. 21, 1694 died: May 30, 1778 France's Greatest Writer In the 18th century, at a time when French culture dominated Europe, Voltaire dominated French culture. His writing includes a vast amount of work in almost every literary form, including 56 plays, dialogues, historical writing, stories and novels, poetry and epic poems, essays, scientific and learned papers, pamphlets, book reviews, and more than 20,000 letters. Voltaire was born November 21, 1694 and lived to age 83. He chose a career as a writer against the wishes of his father who said he couldn't earn a living as a writer. However, by the time he was forty years old, Voltaire was both a well-known writer and a wealthy man. A Writer for Social Reform Voltaire is known for his philosophical writing, his great wit, and as a crusader against injustice, intolerance, cruelty, and war. In France, in the 1700's, he was the most outspoken writer who supported political and social reform. Because his writing criticized the King and the Church, he lived most of his life in constant fear of being jailed. Thus, he spent comparatively few years of his life in Paris, where his stay was either forbidden or too dangerous. Voltaire was the son of a notary. He attended the Jesuit College Louis-le-Grand from age 9 to age 17. After leaving school, his father found employment for him working in a law office, but Voltaire wished to devote himself to literature. He spent much of his time in Paris salons and became the wit of Parisian society.

16. Great Books Index - Voltaire voltaire Great Books Index. Writings of voltaire. Candide . Philosophical Dictionary . Articles. Candide (1759) http://books.mirror.org/gb.voltaire.html

GREAT BOOKS INDEX Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet) (16941778) An Index to Online Great Books in English Translation AUTHORS/HOME TITLES ABOUT GB INDEX BOOK LINKS Writings of Voltaire Candide Philosophical Dictionary Articles Candide HTML edition (Online Literature Library) HTML edition (Litrix) HTML pages (Oxford) Complete work in one HTML document (Carnegie-Mellon, 210KB) Candide ou l'optimisme (ABU) French text in an HTML edition. [Back to Top of Page] The Philosophical Dictionary HTML edition, each article a separate document (Hanover) [Back to Top of Page] Links to Information About Voltaire Other work (ABU) French text of "Micromegas" by Voltaire. [Back to Top of Page] GREAT BOOKS INDEX MENU Great Books Index Home Page and Author List List of All Works by Author and Title [90KB] About the Great Books Index Links to Other Great Books and Literature Sites ... Literary Cryptograms Support for the Great Books Index web pages is provided by Ken Roberts Computer Consultants Inc URL: http://books.mirror.org/gb.voltaire.html Last revised January 11, 1999 by Ken Roberts e-mail ken@mirror.org

17. Voltaire voltaire quickly chose literature as a career. He began moving in aristocratic circles and soon became known in Paris salons as a brilliant and sarcastic http://www.holysmoke.org/sdhok/voltaire.htm

Voltaire Assumed name of Francois Marie Arouet (1694-1778), French writer and philosopher, who was one of the leaders of the Enlightenment. Voltaire was born in Paris, Nov. 21, 1694, the son of a notary. He was educated by the Jesuits at the College Louis-le-Grand. Early Brilliance. Voltaire quickly chose literature as a career. He began moving in aristocratic circles and soon became known in Paris salons as a brilliant and sarcastic wit. A number of his writings, particularly a lampoon accusing the French regent Philippe II, duc d'Orleans of heinous crimes, resulted in his imprisonment in the Bastille. During his 11-month detention, Voltaire completed his first tragedy, oedipe, which was based upon the Oedipus tyrannus of the ancient Greek dramatist Sophocles, and commenced an epic poem on Henry IV of France. oedipe was given its initial performance at the Theatre-Francais in 1718 and received with great enthusiasm. The work on Henry IV was printed anonymously in Geneva under the title of Poeme de la ligue (Poem of the League, 1723). In his first philosophical poem, Le pour et le contre (For and Against), Voltaire gave eloquent expression to both his anti-Christian[ity] views and his rationalist, deist creed. A quarrel with a member of an illustrious French family, the chevalier de Rohan, resulted in Voltaire's second incarceration in the Bastille, from which he was released within two weeks on his promise to quit France and proceed to England. Accordingly he spent about two years in London. Voltaire soon mastered the English language, and in order to prepare the British public for an enlarged edition of his Poeme de la ligue, he wrote in English two remarkable essays, one on epic poetry and the other on the history of civil wars in France. For a few years the Catholic, autocratic French government prevented the publication of the enlarged edition of Poeme de la ligue, which was retitled La Henriade (The Henriad). The government finally allowed the poem to be published in 1728. This work, an eloquent defense of religious toleration, achieved an almost unprecedented success, not only in Voltaire's native France but throughout all of the continent of Europe as well.

18. Notes On Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary A study guide for selections from voltaire s Philosophical Dictionary from Washington State University. http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/voltaire.html

Study Guide for Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary: (Selections) Houdon: Voltaire, National Gallery, photo by Paul Brians Using this Guide List of other study guides The most commonly taught book by Voltaire is his amusing satire on philosophical optimism, Candide. It was even made into a delightful musical by Leonard Bernstein. However, it does not represent Voltaire at his most influential. Philosophical optimism is pretty much dead and has to be explained to students today so that they can grasp the point of his satire. Voltaire's thought ranged much more widely than this, however. In a very long life of tireless intellectual campaigning he was the most widely-read of the Enlightenment spokesmen known as philosophes. These writers prized clarity and wit, and Voltaire's writing abounds in both. However, these qualities are somewhat dimmed for many contemporary readers who don't have the background to appreciate his jokes or grasp his points without assistance. These notes try to provide some assistance in this regard, and draw the reader's attention to the most important issues. It has been said that "Voltaire criticized the Bible, but now everyone reads the Bible and no one reads Voltaire." Besides being wildly overstated, this jibe misses the point: we no longer read most of Voltaire's writings because the ideas he fearlessly promoted have mostly become commonplaces which we take for granted. The agenda of the

19. Voltaire: A Treatise On Toleration voltaire s 1763 work, translated by Richard Hooker. http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/voltaire.htm

Voltaire: A Treatise on Toleration What reasons does Voltaire give that we should all tolerate each other? Whether it is Useful to Maintain People in their Superstition Such is the feebleness of humanity, such is its perversity, that doubtless it is better for it to be subject to all possible superstitions, as long as they are not murderous, than to live without religion. Man always needs a rein, and even if it might be ridiculous to sacrifice to fauns, or sylvans, or naiads, (1) it is much more reasonable and more useful to venerate these fantastic images of the Divine than to sink into atheism. An atheist who is rational, violent, and powerful, would be as great a pestilence as a blood-mad, superstitious man. When men do not have healthy notions of the Divinity, false ideas supplant them, just as in bad times one uses counterfeit money when there is no good money. The pagan feared to commit any crime, out of fear of punishment by his false gods; the Malabarian fears to be punished by his pagoda. Wherever there is a settled society, religion is necessary; the laws cover manifest crimes, and religion covers secret crimes. But whenever human faith comes to embrace a pure and holy religion, superstition not only becomes useless, but very dangerous. We should not seek to nourish ourselves on acorns when God gives us bread.

20. Voltaire (François Marie Arouet) A biography of French dramatist voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet). http://www.theatrehistory.com/french/voltaire001.html

VOLTAIRE Born, Paris, France, 1694 Died, Paris, France, 1778 This document was originally published in Minute History of the Drama Purchase Books by Voltaire T HIS brilliant playwright is known to the world today not by his own name, but simply as "Voltaire," the name he adopted after the successful production of his first play, Oedipe , in 1718. He was the son of a middle class family and was educated by Jesuit priests. From his earliest youth he seems to have been imbued with a spirit of skepticism and rebellion against intolerance. This characteristic which he was at no pains to hide, twice brought him imprisonment in the Bastille, and at a later date, periods of exile from France. One such exile in England brought Voltaire the acquaintance of the important contemporary English writers. Indeed, his writings were bringing him such fame outside of France that he corresponded with some of the greatest people of the day including Catherine the Great of Russia. About this time he spent several years in Berlin whither he had gone at the invitation of Frederick the Great of Prussia. During his stay in Berlin, Lessing , who was later to become the first great German dramatist, was employed by Voltaire in making translations.

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