I liked the quote so much I looked it up (because I did not remember Voltaire saying this from my college days)… about the 3rd hit on the quote is where all the stuff started about him not really saying it… the story is pretty interesting, but it seems clear that the quote does indeed at least reflect his thinking.
There’s so many things that we have taken for granted that aren’t exactly true… google is my friend.
I just learned today that the nursery rhyme “a tisket, a tasket” is not about the Black Plague… darn, it was a good story…
Greg
Boomer K MOGWAI said:
Greg Elmassian said:
(By the way Boomer, that quote was actually written by Beatrice Evelyn Hall… not Voltaire. Google her… you’ll see.)
Quote: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” (“Je désapprouve ce que vous dites, mais je défendrai à la mort votre droit à le dire”)
What Voltaire actually said was “Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too” from Voltaire’s Essay on Tolerance – that certainly doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. The misquote actually comes from a 1907 book called Friends of Voltaire, by Evelyn Beatrice Hall.
From this website… http://listverse.com/2008/05/15/top-10-famous-historic-misquotes/
Greg I counted 47 websites who misquote this. Imagine how much fun you will have contacting each and everyone of them to let them know you are correct and they are wrong. (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
I will return to quoting only from the book of Boomer.
