Bücher von Voltaire

"To name Voltaire is to characterize the entire eighteenth century."-Victor Hugo. "Italy had a Renaissance, and Germany had a Reformation, but France had Voltaire; he was for his country both Renaissance and Reformation, and half the Revolution. … His spirit moved like a flame over the continent and the century and stirs a million souls in every generation." - Will Durant. "Not to admire Voltaire is one of the many forms of stupidity." -- Jorge Luis Borges. François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 - 30 May 1778), known by his nom de plume, Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment philosopher writer and historian. He used his satirical wit and his vivacious intelligence to oppose tyranny, bigotry and cruelty and to advocate freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the separation of church and state.Voltaire was one of the most prolific and versatile writers in history, writing almost 2000 books and booklets. Candide (Candide, ou l'Optimisme, being the full French title), Voltaire's most read work, is a savage denunciation of metaphysical optimism, and a rollicking satire of Leibniz' metaphysical thesis that "all is for the best".Candide, a young man of gentle manners and true judgement, grows up enjoying an idyllic life in the Baron of Thunder-ten-Tronckh's castle. He is tutored by the famous Dr Pangloss, who asserts that "all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds." Unfortunately, Candide is caught kissing the Baron's beautiful daughter, and expelled from the castle into the harsh world outside. He and his companions then experience a series of unfortunate misadventures--war, rape, theft, hanging, shipwrecks, earthquakes, cannibalism and slavery. Face to face with evil, his Leibnizian optimism is gradually eroded. Finally, settling down to a simple life on a farm, he discovers the secret of happiness in a quiet and practical life without excessive philosophising. The book famously concludes with Candide's Il faut cultiver notre jardin: 'We must cultivate our garden.'

The History Of Peter The Great, Emperor Of Russia: From The French Of Voltaire Translated By Tobias Smollett. This book is a result of an effort made by us towards making a contribution to the preservation and repair of original classic literature.In an attempt to preserve, improve and recreate the original content, we have worked towards:1. Type-setting & Reformatting: The complete work has been re-designed via professional layout, formatting and type-setting tools to re-create the same edition with rich typography, graphics, high quality images, and table elements, giving our readers the feel of holding a 'fresh and newly' reprinted and/or revised edition, as opposed to other scanned & printed (Optical Character Recognition - OCR) reproductions.2. Correction of imperfections: As the work was re-created from the scratch, therefore, it was vetted to rectify certain conventional norms with regard to typographical mistakes, hyphenations, punctuations, blurred images, missing content/pages, and/or other related subject matters, upon our consideration. Every attempt was made to rectify the imperfections related to omitted constructs in the original edition via other references. However, a few of such imperfections which could not be rectified due to intentional\unintentional omission of content in the original edition, were inherited and preserved from the original work to maintain the authenticity and construct, relevant to the work.We believe that this work holds historical, cultural and/or intellectual importance in the literary works community, therefore despite the oddities, we accounted the work for print as a part of our continuing effort towards preservation of literary work and our contribution towards the development of the society as a whole, driven by our beliefs. We are grateful to our readers for putting their faith in us and accepting our imperfections with regard to preservation of the historical content. HAPPY READING!

This book has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations. So that the book is never forgotten we have represented this book in a print format as the same form as it was originally first published. Hence any marks or annotations seen are left intentionally to preserve its true nature.

The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candide's slow and painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not rejecting Leibnizian optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best" in the "best of all possible worlds". Candide has enjoyed both great success and great scandal. Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned to the public because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition, and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté. However, with its sharp wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition, the novel has since inspired many later authors and artists to mimic and adapt it. Today, Candide is recognized as Voltaire's magnum opus.

Have you ever wondered how different worldviews have shaped history? How dominant religious or political groups have changed the way past events have been interpreted, written, and recorded? Voltaire, the greatest philosophical mind to come out of the Enlightenment, has tackled these very questions in his essay The Philosophy of History. Voltaire attempts to reinterpret the moral, aesthetic, and religious views and the customs and practices that prevailed in ancient civilizations. In The Philosophy of History, he takes a philosophical look through history from different races of man to legislators who have spoken in the name of the Gods. This enthralling essay is an essential read for scholars and students of the Enlightenment. The Philosophy of History was first published in London in 1776 and is a typical representation of Voltaire's attitude toward life and reality. His prime concern was to disprove and demolish the established notions that governed contemporary affairs; they were, in his penetrating view, patently ridiculous. He spread his iconoclastic aim throughout his work. The model for all subsequent dissenters, Voltaire wrote with courage and conviction most importantly, with controlled genius that lent to his words and ideas a strength and aggregate that has resisted the erosive influence of time. This ebook is derived from the original edition published in 1776, with a preface by Thomas Kiernan

This book is a result of an effort made by us towards making a contribution to the preservation and repair of original classic literature.In an attempt to preserve, improve and recreate the original content, we have worked towards:1. Type-setting & Reformatting: The complete work has been re-designed via professional layout, formatting and type-setting tools to re-create the same edition with rich typography, graphics, high quality images, and table elements, giving our readers the feel of holding a 'fresh and newly' reprinted and/or revised edition, as opposed to other scanned & printed (Optical Character Recognition - OCR) reproductions.2. Correction of imperfections: As the work was re-created from the scratch, therefore, it was vetted to rectify certain conventional norms with regard to typographical mistakes, hyphenations, punctuations, blurred images, missing content/pages, and/or other related subject matters, upon our consideration. Every attempt was made to rectify the imperfections related to omitted constructs in the original edition via other references. However, a few of such imperfections which could not be rectified due to intentional\unintentional omission of content in the original edition, were inherited and preserved from the original work to maintain the authenticity and construct, relevant to the work.We believe that this work holds historical, cultural and/or intellectual importance in the literary works community, therefore despite the oddities, we accounted the work for print as a part of our continuing effort towards preservation of literary work and our contribution towards the development of the society as a whole, driven by our beliefs. We are grateful to our readers for putting their faith in us and accepting our imperfections with regard to preservation of the historical content. HAPPY READING!

Cette pièce se déroule pendant le siège de la Mecque par Mahomet en 630. Voltaire ne prétendit jamais faire œuvre d'historien ; il se savait dramaturge. Au cœur de sa pièce, l'affrontement entre Mahomet et le vieux Zopire, shérif de La Mecque, dont les deux enfants furent enlevés, jadis, par son ennemi. Or, Zopire tient captifs deux esclaves du Prophète, Séide et Palmyre, ignorant qu'ils sont, en réalité, ses propres enfants. Cet argument - l'échange des enfants à l'insu d'un père prêt à venger leur absence - est l'un des ressorts les plus classiques de la tragédie, depuis Eschyle jusqu'à Verdi. Il est ici prétexte à un face-à-face philosophique entre Mahomet et Zopire. Mahomet, qui assiège La Mecque, donne le choix à Zopire: revoir les siens ou défendre sa patrie. Zopire, vieillard inexorable, ne fléchit point et, tel le Créon de Sophocle, préfère sa cité à sa descendance. Mahomet, rongé par la haine, convainc alors le jeune Séide d'assassiner Zopire, son propre père: «L'amour, le fanatisme, aveuglent sa jeunesse; il sera furieux par excès de faiblesse.»

Candide is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best (1759); Candide: or, The Optimist (1762); and Candide: or, Optimism (1947). It begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism (or simply "optimism") by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not rejecting optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best" in the "best of all possible worlds".Candide is characterised by its sarcastic tone as well as by its erratic, fantastical and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel with a story similar to that of a more serious bildungsroman, it parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers through allegory; most conspicuously, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism.As expected by Voltaire, Candide has enjoyed both great success and great scandal. Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté. However, with its sharp wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition, the novel has since inspired many later authors and artists to mimic and adapt it. Today, Candide is recognized as Voltaire's magnum opus and is often listed as part of the Western canon; it is arguably taught more than any other work of French literature. Martin Seymour-Smith has listed Candide as one of The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written.