Pointing out that the maxim ``I oppose your opinion, but protect the right to assert it with my life'' is not Voltaire's
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The philosopher Voltaire famously said, 'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.' protect with one's life)' is not Voltaire's, but is said to have been written by biographer S.G. Tarentyre . Mr. Gerson O'Toole, who has uncovered the truth of many celebrity quotes, has explained the mystery of why wrong information is being passed on to future generations.
I Disapprove of What You Say, But I Will Defend to the Death Your Right to Say It – Quote Investigator®
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/06/01/defend-say/
Voltaire is famously quoted as saying, 'I am in your opinion...', but there is no evidence that he actually said it. The first extant mention of this term is in Tarentia's 1906 publication The Friends of Voltaire .
In this book, it is written that French philosopher Claude-Adrien Hervesius published a work called 'The Spirit' in 1758, which caused controversy due to its anti-Catholic content. 'On the Spirit' was criticized by the Paris High Court and was burned, but Voltaire, while showing disapproval of the content of the book itself, considered the burning of the book to be unfair. In this regard, Tarentia writes:
'What a fuss over trifles!' he exclaimed when he heard of the cremation. What a terrible injustice to persecute people for such a trifle! 'I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death my right to say it' is his attitude now.
Tarentia puts the quote in quotation marks, which makes it difficult to understand. was not spoken by Voltaire in However, this part is now famous as Voltaire's remark.
In fact, in a 1939 article published in the academic journal Modern Language Notes, Tarentia affirms that these words are not Voltaire's, but his own.
Further investigation reveals that Tarentia mentions the topic again in his 1919 publication of Voltaire's
In 1759, when The Spiritualism was burnt together with Voltaire's poem The Natural Law, Voltaire, while loathing (and thoroughly reviling) Helvesius' masterpiece, sought its right to live. , over hills and valleys, fought with tooth and claw. Essentially, Voltaireism means 'I wholly disapprove of what you say—and will defend to the death your right to say it.' 'Met.
The 1919 Talentia representation was slightly different from the 1906 representation. For example, the word 'wholly' was inserted, which was not there before, and that part was bolded to clarify that the expression is Talentia's, not Voltaire's. It has the sentence structure shown.
But more and more people start misrepresenting this. In 1920, a French enthusiast named Robert Dell wrote in his book My Second Country (France) , 'Voltaire's generosity was reflected in the famous line from a letter to Helvesius, 'I wholly disapprove of what You say and will defend your right to say it.” Furthermore, in June 1920, a newspaper in Aberdeen, South Dakota, quoted a 'wholly' version of the maxim: 'Liberty-loving people in every country have expressed the need for free speech, but Voltaire has never been more straightforward about this.' No one expressed it.I wrote, 'I wholly disapprove of what you say—and will defend to the death your right to say it.'
After that, there are also cases where it was pointed out that the maxim was mistakenly attributed to Voltaire. In 1943, Burdett Kinet of Columbia University published a short article in Modern Language Notes that included an important letter Tarentia sent to Kinnet in 1939. The words 'I am in your opinion...' are my own words and should not have been quoted.'
O'Toole concludes, ``In conclusion, many researchers have tried to find this quote in Voltaire's writings, but have never been able to find it. 'Friends,' Tarentia's words impressively and gracefully reflect her view of Voltaire.'
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