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Les Délices ("The Delights") was from 1755–1760 the home of Voltaire

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Voltaire's infulence on modern government

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Voltaire's infulence on modern government

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He advocated freedom of speech. ” I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” One can find this powerful assertion in the American Constitution as the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. In his works, he criticized clergy, aristocracy and the government. He advocated tolerance, reason and limited government.

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Voltaire was a versatile and prolific writer. In his lifetime he published numerous works, including books, plays, poems, and polemics. His most famous works included the fictitious Lettres philosophiques (1734) and the satirical novel Candide (1759).
Since his writing denigrated everything from organized religion to the justice system, Voltaire ran up against frequent censorship from the French government. A good portion of his work was suppressed, and the authorities even ordered certain books to be burned by the state executioner.

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Voltaire believed above all in the efficacy of reason. He believed social progress could be achieved through reason and that no authority, religious or political should be immune to challenge. He emphasized in his work the importance of tolerance, especially religious tolerance. He was in a strong opposition of the monarchy and was in favor of a republic. He was also a fierce opponent of slavery because of his belief in it’s unalienable right.

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United with other thinkers of his day literary men and scientists in the belief in the efficacy of reason, Voltaire was a philosophe, as the 18th century called it. In the salons,he professed an aggressive belief in the existence of a supreme being and disbelief in a supior super, which scandalized the religious. He visited the British leader Viscount Bolingbroke, exiled in France—a politician, and a philosopher whom Voltaire admired. On Bolingbroke’s advice he learned English in order to read the works of John Locke.

His english development was furthered by an accident: as the result of a fight with a member of one of the leading French families, who had made fun of his adopted name, he was beaten up, taken to the Bastille, and then conducted to Calais on May 5, 1726, whence he set out for London. His destiny was now exile and opposition.
He taught a lesson to humanity, which has lost nothing of its value. He taught his readers to think clearly; his was a mind at once precise and generous. “He is the necessary philosopher,” wrote Lanson, “in a world of bureaucrats, engineers, and producers.”

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Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier (his lover)

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Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier (his lover)

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Gabrielle Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Chatelet by Marianne Loir

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Voltaire, alias of François-Marie Arouet, (born November 21, 1694, Paris, France—died May 30, 1778, Paris). Voltaire’s background was middle class. He believed that he was the son of an officer named Rochebrune, who was also a songwriter. He attached himself to his godfather, the abbé de Châteauneuf, a freethinker .
He attended the Jesuit college of Louis-le-Grand in Paris, where he learned literature, and theatre. The religious instruction of the fathers at the school served only to intrigue his skepticism and mockery.He retained, however, a degree of admiration for the sovereign, and he remained convinced that the enlightened kings are the indispensable agents of progress.

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Portrait of the writer, essayist and philosopher Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire