Many of Voltaire's prose works and romances, usually composed as pamphlets, were written as polemics. "Candide" attacks the passivity inspired by Leibniz's philosophy of optimism through the character Pangloss's frequent refrain that circumstances are the "best of all possible worlds". "L'Homme aux quarante ecus" ("The Man of Forty Pieces of Silver"), addresses social and political ways of the time; "Zadig" and others, the received forms of moral and metaphysical orthodoxy; and some were written to deride the Bible. In these works, Voltaire's ironic style, free of exaggeration, is apparent, particularly the restraint and simplicity of the verbal treatment. "Candide" in particular is the best example of his style. Voltaire also has—in common with Jonathan Swift—the distinction of paving the way for science fiction's philosophical irony, particularly in his "Micromégas" and the vignette "Plato's Dream" (1756).