Friday, February 03, 2006

High Voltaire

Spent one afternoon last week with colleagues at the Voltaire Foundation in Oxford.

I took this photo of a bronze bust of Voltaire which greets visitors as they arrive.

Voltaire’s real name was François-Marie Arouet and he died in 1778. He was known to have said many witty things and here is one attributed to him:

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

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