Quotation
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“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Voltaire · Enlightenment · Enlightenment · 1906
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What does it mean?
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. Evelyn Beatrice Hall wrote this in 1906, as S. G. Tallentyre, to illustrate Voltaire's attitude. It does not appear in his letters. A rival reading says she caught his spirit, so the quotation marks are a venial sin. A summary of someone's spirit, once it is in quotation marks, starts a second life as a fake. The idea, that disapproval and a right can coexist, can be argued. It cannot be footnoted to him.
Did Voltaire really say this?
The library’s label is Misattributed. Hall wrote this as an illustration of Voltaire's attitude, not as a sentence from him. It does not appear in his letters or works. The attitude it sketches is related to arguments he did make for toleration. The words are hers.
Where it comes from
Evelyn Beatrice Hall, The Friends of Voltaire (1906), under the pseudonym S. G. Tallentyre
Approximate date: 1906.
How to use it
If you want the principle, say it in your own name or in Hall's, at a council meeting or in a student paper. Then do the harder part she does not solve: what the right covers, and what 'to the death' would actually commit you to. Borrowing Voltaire does not do that work.
A mindset reading
This is the textbook case of a gloss that escaped its frame. The attitude it sketches is related to arguments he did make. Related is not said.
Understand the philosophy
Voltaire's name was strong enough to carry a twentieth-century portrait. The strength of the name is the mechanism. The Friends of Voltaire is the source, and it is honest on its own page. The honesty was lost in the quoting.
- freedom
- justice
- society
FAQ
What does it mean?
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. Evelyn Beatrice Hall wrote this in 1906, as S. G. Tallentyre, to illustrate Voltaire's attitude. It does not appear in his letters. A rival reading says she caught his spirit, so the quotation marks are a venial sin. A summary of someone's spirit, once it is in quotation marks, starts a second life as a fake. The idea, that disapproval and a right can coexist, can be argued. It cannot be footnoted to him.
Did Voltaire really say this?
Misattributed. Hall wrote this as an illustration of Voltaire's attitude, not as a sentence from him. It does not appear in his letters or works. The attitude it sketches is related to arguments he did make for toleration. The words are hers.
Which work is it in?
Evelyn Beatrice Hall, The Friends of Voltaire (1906), under the pseudonym S. G. Tallentyre Approximate date: 1906.