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VOLTAIRE (1694-1778), French philosopher and historian, one of the most influential thinkers of the Enlightenment

1. “Tonight I was in a meditative mood. I was absorbed in the contemplation of nature; I admired the immensity, the movements, the harmony of those infinite globes.

I admired still more the Intelligence which directs these vast forces. I said to myself: ‘One must be blind not to be dazzled by this spectacle; one must be stupid not to recognize the Author of it; one must be mad not to worship Him’.” (Voltaire, as cited in Redman 1963, 187).

2. “I die, adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies and detesting superstitions.” (Voltaire, as cited in Parton 1884, 577).

3. “All nature cries to us that He exists, that there is a Supreme Intelligence, a power immense, an order admirable, and all teaches us our dependence.” (Voltaire, as cited in Parton 1884, 554).

4. “I believe in God, not the God of the mystics and the theologians, but the God of nature, the great geometrician, the architect of the universe, the prime mover, unalterable, transcendental, everlasting.” (Voltaire, as cited in Cragg 1970, 237).