The French Enlightenment (French: les Lumières françaises, lit. '"the French Lights"') was the intellectual and cultural movement that flourished in 18th-century France, forming a central part of the Age of Enlightenment (historically known in French as les Lumières, lit. '"the Lights"').
The movement drew heavily on the ideas of English thinkers such as John Locke and Isaac Newton, while in turn profoundly shaping other national Enlightenments. It also played a major role in inspiring the French Revolution (1789–1799). According to Sharon A. Stanley, the French Enlightenment was distinctive for its "unrelenting assault on church leadership and theology." Many works critical of the monarchy or the Church were printed in the Dutch Republic, where more liberal press laws allowed them to be smuggled into the Kingdom of France.