Voltaire (1694–1778) was a French writer and thinker, one of the biggest names of the Enlightenment — the period when European writers argued that people should use reason instead of just obeying kings and churches. He wrote plays, poems, history and thousands of letters, but the one thing students still read is Candide, a short, funny, very dark story about a young man who is taught that this is "the best of all possible worlds" and then has terrible things happen to him again and again. Voltaire attacked religious cruelty and stupid authority, and he did it by making people laugh, which is partly why he is still quoted. His name was a pen name; he was born François-Marie Arouet. When people say "Voltaire" in English today they often mean not the man but the attitude: sharp, witty, against pompous authority. Note that the most famous "Voltaire quote" — "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" — was actually written about him by a later biographer, not by him. Teachers repeat it anyway.