François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), better known by the pen name Voltaire (pronounced: [vɔl.tɛːʁ]), was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, freedom of expression, free trade and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form.  The nineteenth-century historian Thomas Macauley said of Voltaire, “Bigots and tyrants, who had never been moved by the wailing and cursing of millions, turned pale at his name.” Even at two centuries removed, the Nazis recognized Voltaire as a natural enemy: during their occupation of Paris, the Nazis singled out the statue of Voltaire for destruction.  Here are some of his pithy and insightful quotes:

May this great God who is listening to me, this God who surely cannot have been born of a virgin, or have died on the gallows, or be eaten in a piece of dough, or have inspired books filled with contradictions, madness, and horror — may this God, creator of all the worlds, have pity on this sect of Christians who blaspheme him!

All good Christians glory in the folly of the Cross. Nothing can be more contrary to religion and the clergy than reason and common sense.

Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.

You will notice that in all disputes between Christians since the birth of the Church, Rome has always favored the doctrine which most completely subjugated the human mind and annihilated reason.

Voltaire considered himself a deist, expressing the idea: “What is faith? Is it to believe that which is not evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason.”

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.

It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.

Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.

Love truth, but pardon error.