“Le Diable s’habille en Voltaire” – Voltaire has the devil inside. [literally “the devil wears Voltaire” like a cloak] [this may be a mis-quote “le diable s’habit en Voltaire” – the devil inhabits Voltaire” sounds almost exactly the same when spoken] Undoubtedly a complex man, and a man of his time, Voltaire also had the flaws of his time. I doubt very much that Voltaire would have accepted “he was a man of his time” as an excuse for someone else’s failings, and neither do I.
No heroes!
All creatures are perpetually in a state of war: each species is born to devour others.
Voltaire by Houdon
Another of my dad’s friends and colleagues was one Peter Gay, who was an immigrant whose family fled to the US during WWII, carrying all their wealth in the form of rare postage stamps, pasted to a postcard collection that Peter carried. They boarded the ill-fated St. Louis, a refugee-ship that cruised up and down the US East Coast being denied landing rights because the US didn’t want any jewish refugees.[wik] The family managed to sneak off the boat in Cuba and later got a ride to the US. He was a stamp collector until his death in 2015. He was a great expert on Voltaire, and wrote a seminal text Voltaire’s Politics, the Poet as Realist [amzn].
Voltaire’s wit was often described as cutting and fast; “rapier-like wit” – he wasn’t a man of violence, but his passions could be ferocious and when he decided that someone’s ideas needed to be attacked, his pen really was as mighty as a sword.
Voltaire was an epic correspondent.
This isn’t a piece of translated Voltaire; it’s something I found on Ebay. Occasionally things signed by Voltaire show up, but they are usually extremely expensive ($100,000+) or the have a brief ‘V’ signature.
Now you can shower with Voltaire. But don’t you dare call it “douche”…
Voltaire by Houdon
Voltaire by Houdon
Hic segetes, illic veniunt felicius uvae;
arborae foetus alibi, atque insuffa virafeunt
Gramina. Non vides, croceos ut Timolus odores,
India mittit ebur, molles fua thura Sabeai?
Ut Chalybes nudi ferrum, virofaque Pontus
Castorea, Eliadum palmas Epirum equaorum?
Here we will use the translation of Abbe Dellisle, of which the elegance is worthy of its difficulty.
Voltaire by Houdon
“Tyrannos” used to mean a person who had achieved the highest authority; like the King or basileus, meaning the one who was charged with bringing matters before the Senate.
Voltaire by Houdon
The present births, supposedly, the future. Events are chained, one another, by an invincible fate; it is this destiny that, in Homer, is more powerful than Jupiter, himself.