The most dangerous wit in Europe — imprisoned twice, exiled repeatedly, and the most famous man in the world when he finally returned to Paris to die. He wrote Candide in three days. He got Jean Calas posthumously rehabilitated. He spent his last twenty years at Ferney, near the Swiss border — close enough to flee if necessary.

He argued that reason, tolerance, and the cultivation of specific achievable goods were better than perfect philosophical systems. He said so in ways that were both funny and devastating. He found Rousseau's idealization of natural man sentimental nonsense. Rousseau did not forgive him.

He is more interesting than his famous quotations, most of which he probably never said.