In this unbrotherly time I wish to invoke again the name of Voltaire. This great French-man – poet, dramatist, philosopher, political activist – was infinitely gifted, wonderfully rebellious in the face of bigotry, incomparably brave in the cause of liberty at a time – the decades before the French and American revolutions – when liberty was by no means in fashion. He was the great civil rights leader of his era. He was famous for living vividly, writing brilliantly and behaving courageously. But he has come down to us celebrated above all for tolerance. At this time as at all times, let us learn from him.
