Francois Marie Arouet (pen name Voltaire) was born on November 21, 1694 in Paris. Voltaire's intelligence, wit and style made him one of France's greatest writers and philosophers.

Young Francois Marie received his education at "Louis-le-Grand," a Jesuit college in Paris where he said he learned nothing but "Latin and the Stupidities." He left school at 17 and soon made friends among the Parisian aristocrats. His humorous verses made him a favorite in society circles. In 1717, his sharp wit got him into trouble with the authorities. He was imprisoned in the Bastille for eleven months for writing a scathing satire of the French government. During his time in prison Francois Marie wrote "Oedipe" which was to become his first theatrical success and adopted his pen name "Voltaire."

In 1726, Voltaire insulted the powerful young nobleman, "Chevalier De Rohan," and was given two options: imprisonment or exile. He chose exile and from 1726 to 1729 lived in England. While in England Voltaire was attracted to the philosophy of John Locke and ideas of mathematician and scientist, Sir Isaac Newton. He studied England's Constitutional Monarchy and its religious tolerance. Voltaire was particularly interested in the philosophical rationalism of the time, and in the study of the natural sciences. After returning to Paris he wrote a book praising English customs and institutions. It was interpreted as criticism of the French government and in 1734, Voltaire was forced to leave Paris again.

At the invitation of his highly-intelligent woman friend, "Marquise du Chatelet," Voltaire moved into her "Chateau de Cirey" near Luneville in eastern France. They studied the natural sciences together for several years. In 1746, Voltaire was elected into the "Academie Francaise," the French Academy which was established in 1635.  In 1749, after the death of "Marquise du Chatelet" and at the invitation of the King of Prussia, "Frederick the Great," he moved to Potsdam (near Berlin in Germany). In 1753, Voltaire left Potsdam to return to France.

In 1759, Voltaire purchased an estate called "Ferney" near the French-Swiss border where he lived until just before of his death. Ferney soon became the intellectual capital of Europe . Voltaire worked continuously throughout the years, producing a constant flow of books, plays and other publications. He wrote hundreds of letters to his circle of friends. He was always a voice of reason. Voltaire was often an outspoken critic of religious intolerance and persecution.

Voltaire returned to a hero's welcome in Paris at age 83. The excitement of the trip was too much for him and he died in Paris. Because of his criticism of the church Voltaire was denied burial in church ground. He was finally buried at an abbey in Champagne. In 1791 his remains were moved to a resting place at the Pantheon in Paris.  According to essayist Clarence Darrow. “The sarcophagus was placed on an altar on the ruins of that tower of the Bastille in which Voltaire had been twice a prisoner. On the altar was the inscription, ‘On this spot, where despotism chained thee, receive the homage of a free people.’

In 1814 a group of "ultras" (a right-wing religious group) stole Voltaire's remains and dumped them in a garbage heap. No one was the wiser for some 50 years. His enormous sarcophagus (opposite Rousseau's) was checked and the remains were gone. His heart, however, had been removed from his body, and now lies in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. His brain was also removed, but after a series of passings-on over 100 years, disappeared.

Voltaire is what we might call today a rogue and a mischievous trouble-maker, often being exiled, banished, and twice put in prison  His writings expressed his radical thoughts, opposing oppression, persecution, cruelty, and injustice.  These were reoccurring themes in his poems, plays, histories, and prose. He was also a noted lady’s man. 

Essayist and American lawyer Clarence Darrow (noted for his defense of John Scopes in the “Monkey” Trial) wrote on Voltaire, “For the last twenty-five years of his life, the superstition, the ignorance, and above all, the cruelty of the church, was constantly in his mind. He scarcely wrote a letter, a tract or a book, that he did not revert to these over and over again, and in spite of all his contortions and somersaults, there probably cannot be found a line in Voltaire which defended superstition, gave countenance to cruelty or barbarism, and did not plead for the enlightenment and freedom of man….  ...he wrote volume after volume of his Philosophical Dictionary, every page filled with subtle and deadly stabs at the church…he poured forth his pamphlets without number, sowing seeds of revolution and revolt. ‘What harm can a book do that costs a hundred crowns,’ wrote Voltaire, ‘Twenty volumes folio will never make a revolution. It is the little pocket pamphlets of thirty sous that are to be feared.’ … he wrote his letters; letters to all kinds of people, especially scholars and rulers -- letters more voluminous than ever came from the pen of any other correspondent in the world. Seven thousand of these have been preserved and printed and no one knows how many more were lost forever. These letters, like his pamphlets and his books, were urging tolerance, enlightenment, and the freedom of the mind….”

Voltaire felt the need of revolution in France, “Everything I see shows the signs of a revolution which must infallibly come. I shall not have the pleasure of beholding it. The French reach everything late, but they do reach it at last. Young people are lucky. They will see great things. I shall not cease to preach tolerance upon the housetops until persecution is no more. The progress of the right is slow. The roots of prejudice is deep. I shall never see the fruits of my efforts, but their seeds must one day germinate."

Adapted from http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95nov/voltaire.html and Voltaire biographers Clarence Darrow and Thomas S. Vernon (Great Infidels)