Voltaire, born François-Marie Arouet, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. He was born in Paris in 1694 and grew up in an affluent family.
Voltaire was educated by Jesuits and later studied law but abandoned it to pursue a career in writing. His first play was produced in 1718 and he soon gained fame as a writer of satirical works. He was exiled to England in 1726 for insulting the French Regent and while there, he became influenced by the ideas of English philosophers like John Locke and Isaac Newton.
He returned to France in 1729 and continued writing, producing works in a variety of genres including poetry, plays, essays, and historical works. Voltaire was a critic of religious intolerance, and his most famous work, Candide, is a satire on optimism and the idea that we live in the best of all possible worlds. He died in Paris in 1778 at the age of 84.