How to Master Fearlessness — Voltaire’s Secrets to Greatness

Voltaire, a celebrated philosopher, was vehemently hated for rebelling against religious intolerance and absolute monarchy. He is the symbol of accomplishment through fearlessness.

Portrait of Voltaire. Public Domain. Google Images.

Once upon a time, there lived a boy who was both clever and willfully stubborn. Born Francois-Marie Arouet, his family nicknamed him Zozo. Little Zozo was not expected to live long, due to his fragile health. The many enemies he made in his life would wish he had died in the cradle.

As a child, Zozo was known as, ‘le petit volontaire’, meaning, ‘determined little thing.’ He would later call himself Voltaire, taking inspiration from his childhood moniker. This sickly child would grow up to become a celebrated enlightenment philosopher with a strong belief in freedom of speech and civil liberties and a critic of religious prosecution.

This extraordinary man turned the world upside-down and inflamed the mind to think freely in principles of freedom, tolerance, and justice. Voltaire was fearless because he didn’t buckle under societal pressures. He believed in free speech for himself and for others.