“God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.”

Certainly one of the greatest European minds ever and still influential today. Although Voltaire’s insights into the human nature were profound he was an advocate for the monarchy and distrusted democracy (at least the
form he experienced in Britain).

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”

Voltaire was a gifted writer and poet - we wrote several plays and books. He was feared and despised for his sharp tongue. His travels (or rather escapes) took him to London as well as Berlin. He made many enemies during his lifetime, especially his criticism of the catholic church - which lasted beyond his death (from Wikipedia):

Voltaire returned to a hero’s welcome in Paris at age 83 in time to see his last play, Irene, produced. The excitement of the trip was too much for him and he died in Paris on May 30, 1778. Stories about his death in a state of terror and despair are false. Because of his criticism of the church Voltaire was denied burial in church ground. He was finally buried at an abbey in Champagne. In 1791 his remains were moved to a resting place at the Panthéon in Paris.

His final resting place, unfortunately, became a garbage heap. In 1814 a right-wing religious group (The Ultras) robbed his grave and disposed of him in a nearby garbage heap, no one the wiser (for more than 50 years) until his sarcophagus was inspected and discovered… empty. All that remains of this noble champion of the
oppressed is his heart - at the Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale.

Sad story, but something similar happened to Thomas Paine.

More? Wikipedia