Voltaire

The books referenced for this blog:
The Portable Voltaire
Philosophical Dictionary by Voltaire
The Italian Renaissance Reader

Voltaire is yet another of my favorite authors. Born in 1694, Francios-Marie Arouet was educated in a Jesuit school in Paris. He spent a great deal of time in prison during his life, because he was great at causing controversy, and is granted as one of the greatest satirists to ever live. The French Enlightenment is often referred to as ‘The Age of Voltaire.’ Many of his works were outlawed in countries, such as his ‘Philosophical Dictionary’ and ‘Letters on England.’

No topic was too taboo (or illegal) for him to discuss. A Deist, he openly scorned and mocked organized religion. He was especially disgusted by the priests and those in religious power. In the section entitled ‘Priest’ in his ‘Philosophical Dictionary,’ he claims that the priests are hypocrites who encite wars, and who hold themselves greater than they could ever hope to be. In his stories, the Catholic priests are presented as fat, lazy, and who steal from the poor, whereas the people who hold scorned religions, like the Jesuits, are truly good people, who wish for nothing other than to help the poor and impoverished.

His ‘Philosophical Dictionary’ is written in alphabetical order, in which he writes about his views on virtually everything, from Hell and Fraud, to Bees and Cannibals. It was full of irony, sarcasm, maxims, and quotes. He wrote it in this way on purpose: it made it extremely hard to counter his arguments. Whereas others wrote about one thing and left it at that, he wrote such great volumes that the people he angered had little chance to stop him. The book itself was outlawed, but this didn’t stop the public from getting the book, piece by piece. A brief aside: Thomas Jefferson owned a full set of the original publications.

He also has claim to what I view as one of the greatest, and funniest, last words spoken ever. On his deathbed, a priest came to him and asked him to repent and denounce Satan. His reply: ‘Now’s no time to be making enemies.’