Voltaire

Table of Contents

Quotes References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Discover how Voltaire might present Candide and discuss the Age of Enlightenment

title page of Voltaire's Candide

early printing of Voltaire's Candide

early printing of Voltaire's Candide

Pigalle, Jean-Baptiste: bust of Voltaire

For Students

Voltaire summary

Read Next

Close up of books. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society

12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”

Britannica's Book Bingo. Take our reading challenge! Books range form greatest, banned, and counterculture.

Britannica’s Book Bingo

Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales.

10 Captivating Contemporary Novels Set in the British Isles

Battle of Fleurus (June 16, 1794), the most significant battle in the First Coalition phase of the French Revolutionary Wars; by Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse, 19th century.

What Led to France’s Reign of Terror?

Girl Reading On Turquoise Couch

9 American Countercultural Books

Discover

Super Typhoon Noru over the western tropical Pacific Ocean as observed by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA Aqua satellite July 31 2017

What Is the Difference Between a Typhoon and a Super Typhoon?

Los Angeles Police Department wanted flyer on Elizabeth Short, aka the "Black Dahlia," who was brutally murdered in January 1947. The FBI supported the Los Angeles Police Department in the case, including by identifying Short through her fingerprints that

America’s 5 Most Notorious Cold Cases (Including One You May Have Thought Was Already Solved)

Diverse elementary school children wearing school uniforms running outside of school. Boys girls

Pro and Con: School Uniforms

Thanksgiving Celebration Traditional Dinner Setting Food Concept

Why Is Thanksgiving in the U.S. Celebrated on a Thursday?

Rural Irish landscape, Sligo, Ireland.

Why Is Ireland Two Countries?

Iraqi Army Soldiers from the 9th Mechanized Division learning to operate and maintain M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks at Besmaya Combat Training Center, Baghdad, Iraq, 2011. Military training. Iraq war. U.S. Army

8 Deadliest Wars of the 21st Century

New York NY/ USA- November 23, 2018 Hordes of shoppers throng the Macy's Herald Square flagship store in New York looking for bargains on the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday.

Why Is It Called Black Friday?

Voltaire: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	François-Marie Arouet
Born	November 21, 1694 • Paris • France • (Born on this day)
Died	May 30, 1778 (aged 83) • Paris • France
Notable Works	“Adélaïde du Guesclin” • “Alzire” • “An Essay on Universal History, the Manners and Spirit of Nations from the Reign of Charlemaign to the Age of Lewis XIV” • “Brutus” • “Candide” • “Diatribe du docteur Akakia” • “Éléments de la philosophie de Newton” • “L’Histoire de Charles XII” • “L’Orphelin de la Chine” • “La Henriade” • “La Prude” • “Letters on England” • “Lettre à l’Académie” • “Mahomet” • “Memnon” • “Mérope” • “Micromégas” • “Nanine” • “Oedipe” • “The Age of Louis XIV” • “The Tragedy of Zara” • “Vision de Babouc” • “Zadig”
Role In	Enlightenment

Photos and Videos

title page of Voltaire's Candide

early printing of Voltaire's Candide

early printing of Voltaire's Candide

Pigalle, Jean-Baptiste: bust of Voltaire

Discover how Voltaire might present Candide and discuss the Age of Enlightenment

See All Videos and Images →

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

historiography: Montesquieu and Voltaire

August Strindberg

August Strindberg

Swedish dramatist

Marivaux, Pierre

Pierre Marivaux

French author

Dimitry Levitzky: portrait of Denis Diderot

Denis Diderot

French philosopher

Nikolay Gogol

Nikolay Gogol

Ukrainian-born writer

Gutzkow

Karl Gutzkow

German writer

Octave Mirbeau

French author

Hervieu, Paul

Paul Hervieu

French author

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

English author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

German author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Swiss-born French philosopher

Molière

Molière

French dramatist

Jean Racine

Jean Racine

French dramatist

D.H. Lawrence

D.H. Lawrence

English writer

Aleksandr Pushkin

Aleksandr Pushkin

Russian author

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw

Irish dramatist and critic

Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett

Irish author

Pierre Corneille

French poet and dramatist

Poet John Dryden

John Dryden

British author

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

Irish author

Vigny, lithograph by Antoine Maurin, 1832

Alfred-Victor, count de Vigny

French author

Quiz

Agathon (centre) greeting guests in Plato's Symposium, oil on canvas by Anselm Feuerbach, 1869; in the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany.

Philosophy 101

Sir Alfred Hitchcock. Circa 1963 publicity photo of Alfred Hitchcock director of The Birds (1963).

Who Said It? Essential Writers, Artists, and Scientists