In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack yesterday a lot of people have been sharing this quote from Voltaire:
“I don’t agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Unfortunately, the quote isn’t real — or at least, it’s not really Voltaire. It comes from a 1906 biography by Evelyn Beatrice Hall, in which it was intended to represent a summary of his thinking on free speech issues. “I did not mean to imply,” she wrote later, “that Voltaire used these words verbatim.”
Some have claimed that the quote is a paraphrase of a similar statement from a 1770 letter of Voltaire’s:
“I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.”
I myself made this “correction” in a blogpost a few years ago, and again on Twitter yesterday. But it turns out it’s a fake too — the letter from which it’s supposedly taken includes no such sentence.
Scholars pretty much agree that the sentiments in both passages are Voltairean, even if the language isn’t. So is there a third option we can use in good conscience?
Well, not really. So far I’ve found two candidates. First, there’s this:
“Think for yourselves, and allow others the privilege to do so, too.”
Sadly, it has its doubters too, but it does appear in a 1901 published edition of Voltaire’s essays, so if it’s a fake it’s a fake of mistranslation. I’ve been trying to track down the French original to compare, but so far without success.
For a final option, we return to Hall, and to the page of her biography in which the original troublesome quote appeared. Its context was the burning of a book by a fellow French writer, to which Voltaire responded with the following:
“What a fuss about an omelette! How abominably unjust to persecute a man for such an airy trifle as that!”
These two sentences are what inspired Hall to her gloss, and while they don’t carry the punch of “defend to the death,” they do fit neatly into 140 characters — with room left over for attribution and a URL.
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January 8, 2015 at 10:55 pm
jimrhiz
Perhaps: «Pensez pour vous-même et laissez aux autres le privilège d’en faire autant».
See entry of 13 Juil, 2014 6:39 at http://www.cite-catholique.org/viewtopic.php?p=292802
October 1, 2015 at 1:11 pm
XaurreauX
As I understand it, Voltaire himself denied having made the statement.
October 30, 2015 at 8:07 pm
On Popular Opinion and the First Amendment | I am Lichenut, Nerd and Proud
[…] People need to be reminded of this particular quote from Voltaire: “Think for yourselves, and allow others the privilege to do so, too.” They also need to keep this quote in mind: “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” (Bunny Trail: Voltaire usually is credited with this quote. While the sentiments of this quote are definitely Voltairian, the exact statement is not. [sourcesource]) […]
March 12, 2016 at 5:13 pm
abunudnik
Tallentyre http://www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/www_vf/about_voltaire/didnt_say.pdf
March 12, 2016 at 5:17 pm
abunudnik
It’s not possible that Voltaire denied saying it since the statement was not made until S. G. Tallentyre’s The Friends of Voltaire was published in 1907.
April 5, 2016 at 6:53 am
Wendilyn Emrys
Where can we find an image of the original letter>
August 21, 2016 at 7:26 am
Free Speech Under Attack: The Miroslava Berdnik Story – Part II | Awful Avalanche
[…] Returning to the Miroslava Berdnik story…. Where we left off she had been arrested and charged with Statute 110 of the Ukrainian criminal codex. Because she had the gall to write a book exposing the ludicrous history of Ukrainian natinalism. Full disclosure: I have not read Berdnik’s book. But I don’t need to read it, to know that she has the right to write it. Allude to the pseudo-Voltaire quote. […]
December 7, 2016 at 12:41 pm
Blog | Walk a mile
[…] in equal measures. Especially for someone in his position… As Voltaire probably didn’t say “I don’t agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” I’m […]
February 14, 2017 at 9:10 am
Ulyssa
The sentiment is still just as beautiful, I don’t care who said it.