Poet, dramatist, and philosopher François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778) was born in Paris on this day and later took the pen name Voltaire.

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing,” he wrote. “It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”

A pioneer of free thought who inspired Thomas Jefferson and America’s revolutionary founders, Voltaire spoke out against injustice wherever he saw it. His bold criticism of the French monarchy and the Church landed him in the Bastille twice.

A line often associated with his spirit says, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Whether or not he wrote those exact words, he lived their meaning as a defender of freedom.

At thirty-two, he was exiled to England. When he returned in 1729, he praised English culture in his writing. The French government took his admiration as criticism, and he faced exile again.

“Life is a point between two eternities,” he believed. That brief point, to him, was a place for reason, courage, and a touch of mischief.

Voltaire eventually retired to his château in Ferney, a Swiss town near the border, where he helped transform the small place into a vibrant European intellectual center. There he wrote Candide (1758), his famous tale of a young man who believes that whatever happens is always for “the best of all possible worlds,” until hardship teaches him otherwise. In the end, the path to happiness is simple: “cultivate your own gardening.”

“Think for yourself,” he said, “and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so, too.”