Voltaire (Hayden Margolis)

        Hello, My name is François-Marie Arouet, but you may know me as Voltaire. I was born on February 20, 1694 in Paris, France. Growing up I went to the school of Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where I learned to speak Latin and Greek. I also became fluent in Spanish, Italian, and English. At a very early age I noticed impurities in our current government and started many controversies. This resulted in many exiles and imprisonments. My father always wanted me to become a lawyer, but I had other plans. I wanted to be a writer most of my life and I pretended to be an assistant of a lawyer while I wrote countless poems. As I rebelled against my father I met a beautiful women named Catherine Olympe Dunoyer who shared many of my beliefs. I fell in love, but my cruel father quickly put an end to that. I tried to combine my writing skills with my philosophical thoughts and put together a novel called Candide. In this book I highlight my new beliefs on a prosperous government. I stated that "It is up to us to cultivate our garden". I had many controversial moments in my life with the French government. During the French Revolution I constantly fought for  civil rights, the right to a fair trial, and freedom of religion. The French government even exiled me for making fun of them and insulting their ways.