"Épître à l'Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs" (English title: "Letter to the author of The Three Impostors") is an

epistle An epistle (; el, ἐπιστολή, ''epistolē,'' "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as par ...

in verse form written by

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

and published in 1770 (see

1770 in poetry Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France). Works published Colonial America * William Billings, ''The New England Psalm-Singer''Ludwig, Richard M., and Clifford A. ...

). It is a letter to the anonymous writers and publishers of the ''

Treatise of the Three Impostors The ''Treatise of the Three Impostors'' ( la, De Tribus Impostoribus) was a long-rumored book denying all three Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, with the "impostors" of the title being Jesus, Moses, and Muhammad. Hearsay ...

''. It contains one of the most famous Voltaire

quotes Quote is a hypernym of quotation, as the repetition or copy of a prior statement or thought. Quotation marks are punctuation marks that indicate a quotation. Both ''quotation'' and ''quotation marks'' are sometimes abbreviated as "quote(s)". Co ...

, "If God hadn't existed, it would have been necessary to invent him." This quote itself was countered by the 19th-century anarchist

Mikhail Bakunin Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary ...

during his exile in his book ''

God and the State ''God and the State'' (called by its author ''The Historical Sophisms of the Doctrinaire School of Communism'') is an unfinished manuscript by the Russian anarchist philosopher Mikhail Bakunin, published posthumously in 1882. The work criticises ...

'' with "If God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him."God and the State
Michael Bakunin, 1882

References

External links

Scan - Gallica

1770 books French poems Works by Voltaire {{Poem-stub