Reflections, Reflections

I haven´t read much of classic people, because I don´t like a lot of what I have read. So it just discourages me from going to read more. But every once in awhile I come across classic works/people that I find intriguing for one reason or more. This little snipet has piqued my curiosity for more. More here in wikipedia.

"Liberty of thought is the life of the soul." (from Essay on Epic Poetry, 1727)

Profoundly applicable regarding questioning homosexism/pro-homosexuality in our repressive times.

Voltaire's essays did not gain the approval of authorities, but he energetically attacked the government and the Catholic church, which caused him numerous imprisonments and exiles.

Not a boring life... ;-)

"In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to the other." (from Dictionnaire Philosophique, 1764)

Same with the law, always the powerful legal lobbies/groups usurping the rights of others to benefit themselves.

It was fitting that Voltaire should have spent his later years on the border of France and Switzerland: too subversive to be accepted by the authorities in Paris, too much of a Frenchman to live away from France.

I can relate to that.

There, just outside Geneva, in Ferney, he built his own tomb, so that he would be assured of a proper burial. ... On the same chapel is a plaque which reads, 'Deo Erexit VOLTAIRE' (To God, erected by VOLTAIRE). The letter size makes it quite clear which of the two was deemed more important.

funny :-)