"Common sense is not so common" Voltaire

Words from Voltaire

Francois-Marie Arouet was born on this date in 1694. The son of a notary, he took the name Voltaire in 1726, upon his second release from prison. His first imprisonment had resulted from an unjust accusation that Voltaire had insulted the French regent; the second came about because Voltaire had directed his devastating wit toward the wrong man, a well-connected royal whose lettre de cachet sent him back to the Bastille.

Voltaire's imprisonments did not silence him, but rumblings of a third arrest warrant moved him to relocate in a castle bordering the independent duchy of Lorraine.

But enough about the life of the philosopher who is considered to personify the Enlightenment: let's revel in his words.

The term Voltairianism is applied to a skeptical but deistic religious attitude, opposition to intolerance, and castigation of bigotry. Keep that in mind as you consider these thoughts from the writer.

Voltaire pointed out, "Common sense is not so common," and that "The man who leaves money to charity in his will is only giving away what no longer belongs to him." He observed, "There is a wide difference between speaking to deceive, and being silent to be impenetrable"; and that "Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." We close with a quintessential Voltaire epigram: "A witty saying proves nothing."