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Voltaire knew the world was on the cusp of a greater existence — technological development, New World expansion, individual liberty, and societal equality — but he felt there were subtle forces restricting this progression.

Forces like militaristic avarice, aristocratic ignorance, and the unequal distribution of wealth between the upper-class and the lower-class. Of course, these concerns, and resistance by a burgeoning middle-class, led to the French Revolution.

Francois Marie Arouet (pen name Voltaire) was born on November 21, 1694, in Paris. Provided an aristocratic education, Voltaire was what might be called a “smart-ass” in modern times, and he was often too smart for his own good.

In 1726, Voltaire insulted the powerful young nobleman, Chevalier De Rohan, and was given two options: imprisonment or exile. Choosing to be exiled, from 1726 to 1729 Voltaire lived in England. While in England, Voltaire became enamored with the philosophy of John Locke and the unique vision and imagination of Sir Isaac Newton.

Voltaire was particularly interested in the philosophical rationalism of the time — embracing a notion that humans should remain steadfast in an intellectual, deductive pursuit of truth, instead of emotive, sensory perception of the world.

In 1759, Voltaire’s Candide was published, and the world would never be the same. The legacy of Candide remains today as a piece of fire-brand literature that speaks to man’s simian roots — that we are all just monkeys with nice haircuts.

Some of Digital Ink‘s favorite Voltaire quotes:

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

“Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills.”

“Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do.”

“If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is the name of the fourth album from the French Disco Funk band from Versailles, named Phoenix.

Phoenix is Thomas Mars, Deck D’Arcy, Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz. Their sound emerged from the 90s club-scene in Paris (think Air and Daft Punk).

Phoenix’s lead singer, Thomas Mars, is married to Sofia Coppola. Their hit single, “1901,” has been the heavy-rotation club remix of the summer.

Listen to the YouTube mp3 here:

Phoenix rising.

On July 14, 1789, the French citizens represented by the Third Estate had arranged themselves into a militia capable of enforcing their new National Assembly‘s laws, mostly in response to growing dismay over their blossoming national debt. The storming of the Bastille created the Bastille Day holiday, equivalent to the United States’ Fourth of July Independence celebration.

Of course, the reason the French nobility had broken their national coffers and bankrupted their country — they were trying to help the American colonies gain their independence and freedom from England.

The Sans-culottes (French for “without knee-breeches”) were the poorer members of the Third Estate, and also the most likely to exact violent repayment of social debts by the aristocratic nobility who they felt responsible for the poor state of France. Within this broiling realm of hatred and revenge, a notion for “humane” execution had emerged — oddly, from Louis XVI, who sought a way to appease the angered masses and their protests over the inhumane Catherine Wheel.

From this emerged an instrument of “humane” execution: The Guillotine.

According to Wikipedia, between July 1793 to July 1794 in France is known as the Reign of Terror, the upheaval following the overthrow of the monarchy, which hurled France into chaos, and the newly formed government into frenzied paranoia. Most of the democratic reforms of the revolution were suspended and large-scale executions by guillotine began. Former King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were executed in 1793, and this was just the beginning of the bloodletting.

Robespierre had emerged as a speaker for the people in the new government, and his history associates him with much responsibility for the vulgarity and absurdity of the Terror. The “Revolutionary Tribunal” sentenced thousands to the guillotine. Every shape, size, class, color, and shade of people were charged and beheaded on suspicion of “crimes against liberty,” leading them down the short path with a big blade waiting for them — often referred to as the National Razor. Estimates of total guillotine deaths range between 20,000 and 40,000 sliced necks.

Vive La France!. Of course, coup d’etat has always had a different meaning since then. Slicing their way to freedom, one head at a time.

Sliced baguette anyone? Sacre Bleu!