Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Book ·132 of 348
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. — Voltaire"
They never said that.
What people say
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. — Voltaire"
What was actually said
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," was his attitude now. Evelyn Beatrice Hall — The Friends of Voltaire (1906)
Why it stuck
Hall wrote it as her summary of Voltaire's attitude, not as a translation of any Voltaire text. The quotation marks in her book are indicating paraphrase, not citation.
Hall later regretted the confusion, but by then the line was a classical-liberal motto.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.