Life+History

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 On November 21, 1694, **Voltaire** , born François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire, was born in Paris, France. He came from a middle-class family where he lost his mother at the age of seven. Because of this, his relationship with his god-father Chateauneuf, who was a freethinker, grew. Chateauneuf later had a great influence on Voltaire's life, teaching him about deism and literature, and also renouncing superstitions that were prevalent at that time.  Voltaire was given a good education as a boy because he was born into a wealthy family. Throughout his life, he learned Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and English. He studied law from 1711 to 1713, but his true aspiration to be a writer. He ended up choosing to be a writer even though his father was against it and said Voltaire could not earn a living as a writer. More interestingly, Voltaire was millionaire as well as a well-known writer by the time that he was forty.  Imagining Voltaire writing his thoughts and opinions is not a hard thing to do, after all, he wrote 56 plays, dialogues, historical writing, stories and novels, poetry, epic poems, essays, scientific and learned papers, pamphlets, book reviews, and more than 20,000 letters. The funny part was that most of Voltaire's work was banned due to censorship laws. But only made it higher in demand.  He was most known for being a philosophical writer, and as a crusader against injustice, intolerance, cruelty, and war. He was always in constant fear of being thrown into jail for scandalously writing about the King and the Church. He was in the Bastille twice, the first time for 11 months but falsely accused, and the second only released cause he promised to flee to England. He was welcomed warmly by Queen Caroline in England because she had an enormous love for poetry. He wrote the english version of the epic poem, La Henriade, and dedicated it to the her.   Voltaire died in Paris on May 30, 1778. Through out his life, he struggled from health problems, but lived a long life until he was 84. Voltaire was no doubt on of the best-known leaders of the Age of Enlightenment, and he inspired many men to think freely about their rights as people. Would life as we know it be different if he never wrote?

Voltaire's Quotes <-- This link will take you too a page filled with quotes by voltaire. (In english)

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 * The song below is by an artist named "Voltaire." Other then having the same name, they have no relation to eachother.**


 * The video shown is an exerpt from one of Voltaire's poems, //Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne (Poem on the Lisbon Disaster.)//**

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 * This poem is about an Earthquake in Lisbon. Even if you don't understand French, you can still hear the poetic brilliance in his words. To read it in english, click [|here].**======

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