I haven't read their entire correspondence, but to be fair, the majority of what they wrote to each other as pen pals *was* straight out of their mutual admiration society. As some biographer put it, their relationship was great as long as all they had to do was exchange compliments. And one of the things they had in common was snarking at *other people*, that's why they kept falling head over heels for each other. They did a lot of snarking about the other one to third parties, as your sampler noted. Plus, in the period immediately after the big explosion (put Fritz and Voltaire in Sanssouci, shake, how big is the explosion?), there wasn't much correspondence between them at all because they were both sulking in their tents (and trashing each other to the rest of the world). So though there is some snarking at each other in their correspondence, most of the best quotes are going to be from other sources.
I'm still laughing at
"BOSWELL: He said the King of Prussia wrote like your footboy. VOLTAIRE. He is a sensible man."
Btw, when Voltaire died, apparently Fritz had a mass said for him in Berlin. I love that so much. Trolling the Church: it's what Voltaire would have wanted! (Remember, neither was a big fan of religion in general, but Catholicism specifically was The Worst, and Voltaire, being a French subject, had a lot of conflict with the Church. Fritz mostly just sat off to the side as Protestant king and made snide remarks, then went, "ooh, look how tolerant I am, I'm harboring Jesuits and building Catholic churches in Berlin while writing libretti about how the Aztec religion* was more tolerant than Catholicism, yay freedom of religion.")
* Did he know about all the human sacrifice? Was he having a noble savage moment without realizing it?
Oh, speaking of Fritz and religious snark, albeit not Voltaire related, this one made me laugh out loud:
"He also enjoyed reminding his subjects that constitutionally he was the head of both the Lutheran and the Reformed (Calvinist) churches in his dominions. Adjudicating a petition from a man refused permission by the church authorities to marry his widowed aunt, he wrote: 'The Consistory is an ass. As Vicar of Jesus Christ and Archbishop of Magdeburg, I decree that the couple shall be joined together in holy matrimony.' The parishioners of a Pomeranian village who asked for the dismissal of a pastor who did not believe in the resurrection of the body were told that on the Day of Judgment it was up to him if he wished to just lie there prostrate while everyone else got up. Ordering the reappointment of a pastor dismissed because his parishioners objected to his preaching against the eternity of Hell, he commented that if they wished to be damned for all eternity, he had nothing against it. And so on."
"It was up to him if he wished to just lie there prostrate while everyone else got up," "As Vicar of Jesus Christ," omg, Fritz, this is why people love pen-palling with you. The sarcasm, it burns. :-DD
Oh, and speaking of that mass for Voltaire, it reminds me of something else Fritz said. See, Voltaire spent the last few decades of his life loudly proclaiming that he was on his deathbed and his death was expected imminently and everyone should cut him some slack. Fritz started rolling his eyes and retorting that Voltaire would outlive everyone, including him. "You'll write my epitaph," is approximately how he put it. (He was wrong: Voltaire died about 8 years before Fritz, albeit he was also 17 years older than Fritz, so about 9 years more advanced in age at time of death). I like to imagine Old Fritz wishing there were some way for him to find out from beyond the grave what his old frenemy had to say about him.
Re: Fritz Does His Bit For European Unity (And So Does Voltaire)
I'm still laughing at
"BOSWELL: He said the King of Prussia wrote like your footboy.
VOLTAIRE. He is a sensible man."
Btw, when Voltaire died, apparently Fritz had a mass said for him in Berlin. I love that so much. Trolling the Church: it's what Voltaire would have wanted! (Remember, neither was a big fan of religion in general, but Catholicism specifically was The Worst, and Voltaire, being a French subject, had a lot of conflict with the Church. Fritz mostly just sat off to the side as Protestant king and made snide remarks, then went, "ooh, look how tolerant I am, I'm harboring Jesuits and building Catholic churches in Berlin while writing libretti about how the Aztec religion* was more tolerant than Catholicism, yay freedom of religion.")
* Did he know about all the human sacrifice? Was he having a noble savage moment without realizing it?
Oh, speaking of Fritz and religious snark, albeit not Voltaire related, this one made me laugh out loud:
"He also enjoyed reminding his subjects that constitutionally he was the head of both the Lutheran and the Reformed (Calvinist) churches in his dominions. Adjudicating a petition from a man refused permission by the church authorities to marry his widowed aunt, he wrote: 'The Consistory is an ass. As Vicar of Jesus Christ and Archbishop of Magdeburg, I decree that the couple shall be joined together in holy matrimony.' The parishioners of a Pomeranian village who asked for the dismissal of a pastor who did not believe in the resurrection of the body were told that on the Day of Judgment it was up to him if he wished to just lie there prostrate while everyone else got up. Ordering the reappointment of a pastor dismissed because his parishioners objected to his preaching against the eternity of Hell, he commented that if they wished to be damned for all eternity, he had nothing against it. And so on."
"It was up to him if he wished to just lie there prostrate while everyone else got up," "As Vicar of Jesus Christ," omg, Fritz, this is why people love pen-palling with you. The sarcasm, it burns. :-DD
Oh, and speaking of that mass for Voltaire, it reminds me of something else Fritz said. See, Voltaire spent the last few decades of his life loudly proclaiming that he was on his deathbed and his death was expected imminently and everyone should cut him some slack. Fritz started rolling his eyes and retorting that Voltaire would outlive everyone, including him. "You'll write my epitaph," is approximately how he put it. (He was wrong: Voltaire died about 8 years before Fritz, albeit he was also 17 years older than Fritz, so about 9 years more advanced in age at time of death). I like to imagine Old Fritz wishing there were some way for him to find out from beyond the grave what his old frenemy had to say about him.