Voltaire

Francois-Marie Arouet, better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion and free trade. Voltaire was a prolific writer, producing works in almost each literary form including plays, poetry, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote above 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken supporter of social improvement, despite strict censorship laws and harsh penalties for those who broke them. As a satirical polemicist, he regularly made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma and the French institutions of his day. Voltaire was one of several Enlightenment figures whose works and thoughts influenced important thinkers of both the American and French Revolutions.