Voltaire’s statue and tomb in his crypt in the Pantheon, Paris, France

Voltaire was born on November 21, 1694, in Paris, France, where he died 83 1/2 years later. He’s buried in that great city of his birth and death, in a crypt below the beautiful Pantheon. He was a philosopher, playwright, poet, and much, much more; a generally prolific, wide-ranging, and creative writer. In his long life, Voltaire used his wealth of learning, urgent sense of justice, and merciless and ready wit to make the case for religious and intellectual tolerance, forbearance, science, and social reform. He is still considered one of the most influential and memorable thinkers the world has ever seen.

Learn more about the great Voltaire at:

Voltaire – an animated video by Alain de Botton and Nicholas Cronk for The School of Life

Voltaire ~ by J.B. Shank for The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Voltaire ~ by René Henry Pomeau for the Encyclopædia Britannica

Voltaire and the One-Liner ~ by Nicholas Cronk for OUPBlog

Voltaire’s Candide ~ Melvin Bragg talks with David Wootton, Nicholas Cronk, and Caroline Warman for In Our Time

Voltaire’s Garden: The Philosopher as a Campaigner for Human Rights ~ by Adam Gopnik for The New Yorker (book review for Ian Davidson’s Voltaire in Exile

The Voltaire Foundation: a world leader for eighteenth-century scholarship

Broken on the Wheel: A Gruesome Legal Case turned Voltaire into a Crusader for the Innocent ~ by Ken Armstrong for the Paris Review

The Philosopher and the Prodigy: How Voltaire Fell in Love with a Remarkable Woman Mathematician ~ by Michelle Legro for Brain Pickings

Ordinary Philosophy and its Traveling Philosophy / History of Ideas series is a labor of love and ad-free, supported by patrons and readers like you. Please offer your support today!