Voltaire was a French Enlightenment philosopher born François-Marie Arouet. He was an advocate of civil liberties and satirized intolerance, and religious dogma in a time one was punished with censorship, jail, banishment, or worse.

Some of my favorite Voltaire quotes translated from French:

• Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
• Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.
• In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation.