Today we see sarcasm and satire everywhere. In films and books, on television and in our daily lives. We almost don't realize it, because we are used to sarcasm as a device to show the folly or ridiculousness of something, and public figures today can almost guarantee that they will be parodied at some point in their career; It's completely acceptable for writers and comedians today to go after someone as a joke. In the 18th century, however, satire was not so acceptable. After the publication of his most famous work, Candide, the author Voltaire was the subject of numerous criticisms from authorities questioned by history. Voltaire did not even sign the original work, although many suspected that he had written it anyway. Its importance and thorough denunciation show that Candide is actually one of the most important works of social satire of the 18th century. Voltaire attacks the optimism of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz through his character, Doctor Pangloss, the title character's teacher. From the beginning of the story, the reader can see the extreme optimism of Pangloss, who instructs Candide: "Observe that noses were made to wear glasses; and so we have glasses they talk nonsense; they should have said that everything goes for the best." This has a clearly sarcastic tone, as Pangloss's logical errors seem ridiculous; apparently transforms cause into effect and vice versa. This is one of many major sources of humor in the story, so we see many more examples of it. When Candide reconnects with Pangloss after being chased away... middle of paper... the succession, the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War, none of which really changed anything except for the lives they consumed . Although Voltaire did not condone wars for religious reasons, as his sarcastic comments via Pangloss demonstrate, he also did not condone war for no reason, which is what these wars were. This must have frustrated Voltaire, as well as many Enlightenment thinkers of his time, to see that the leaders of the time were so far behind the thinkers of the time, although the same could be said today. One wonders what Voltaire would think of contemporary society. While we certainly recognize that there are problems with our society, this often doesn't bring us any closer to solving them. We still fight wars and politicians still avoid blaming each other for mistakes, although now instead of blaming God, they blame each other.