Voltaire Quotes I Will Defend To The Death

Remember that famous voltaire quote about free speech was written by a woman i will defend to the death your right to be properly cited.

Voltaire quotes i will defend to the death. Evelyn beatrice hall 28 september 1868 13 april 1956 who wrote under the pseudonym s. I disapprove of what you say but i will defend to the death your right to say it they do this in an attempt to calm things down but also to support the principle of freedom of speech. In times of political turmoil and rhetorical strife commentators sometimes wheel out this old quote by the french philosopher and enlightenment writer voltaire. I disapprove of what you say but i will defend.

Indeed the earliest instance of the quote occurs in hall s 1906 the friends of voltaire a biography of the french writer and philosopher originally published under hall s pseudonym s g. In the passage where the quote appears hall discusses voltaire s reaction to news that the government had condemned and burned fellow french philosopher claude adrien helvétius book. Tallentyre was an english writer best known for her biography of voltaire entitled the life of voltaire first published in 1903 she also wrote the friends of voltaire which she completed in 1906. I wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it in june 1920 a newspaper in aberdeen south dakota credited the version with wholly to voltaire.