Voltaire Philosopher, Historian, Writer (1694–1778)

François Arouet, who became known as Voltaire, wrote poetry and plays, and for expressing his opinions he was twice sent to prison. He was in exile in England from 1726 to 1729. He developed an admiration for British institutions. Voltaire admired Britain's Tolerance Act of 1689 and its absence of censorship. He saw benefit in variety, claiming that if England had but one religion it would still be tyrannical, that if England had just two faiths those faiths would be at each others throat. But with thirty different religious groupings, he claimed, Britain lived as a happy land where the spirit of Greece lived on.

Voltaire disliked theories not supported by observation and experiment. In his novel Candide he expressed annoyance at people massacring each other, and he described people as liars, cheats, traitors, weak, flighty, cowardly, envious, gluttonous, drunkenness, grasping, backbiting, debauched, fanatical, hypocritical and silly. Like Montesquieu he feared the passion of common people, and he too disliked democracy. But he also ridiculed the arrogance of the rich, and he thought himself the friend of the poor. He opposed all forms of slavery. He hoped that enlightened monarchs would rule above class interests and keep a firm but tolerant reign on society for the sake of all.

He was too negative about humanity to create a perfect society. He argued that the world would improve as ignorance and superstition were replaced by more knowledge, more reason, sympathy and more tolerance. Voltaire wanted more education, but it was not the poor and unskilled laborer he wished to educate; it was the middle class. The lower classes, he believed, needed religion and needed to be preached to about integrity.

For his free-thinking and outspokenness he was jailed several times and even sent into exile. His books and commentaries on civil liberties, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and most important of all his arguments on separation of church and state helped shape the world in many respects. Voltaire’s arguments and principles served as the foundation for the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

-Voltaire is credited with the following quotes-

• “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it”. • “I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write”.