That Famous "Voltaire" Quote...

..ain't. 

You know the one, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," right?

As it happens, it's not a Voltaire quote -- at least, no one has been able to run it down in the 18th Century French intellectual's works. But it's attributed to him with grim regularity. 

So who was it? And why did it get linked to Voltaire? Answer overleaf.

The quote was contained in an early-20th Century biography of Voltaire published by Evelyn Hall, a lady who wrote under the male pseudonym Stephen G. Tallentyre (that practice was not unusual among female intellectuals in the Victorian era). It was stated thus: 

The men who had hated [the book], and had not particularly loved Helvetius, flocked round him now. Voltaire forgave him all injuries, intentional or unintentional. 'What a fuss about an omelette!' he had exclaimed when he heard of the burning. How abominably unjust to persecute a man for such an airy trifle as that! 'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,' was his attitude now. Source

Hall was describing Voltaire's (and his circle's) defense of a philosopher, "Helvetius," whose work he'd previously savaged. When the monarchy put Helvetius's books to the torch, Voltaire joined many who defended him out of principle, despite their differences with him. 

So it's easy to see how the quote became attributed to Voltaire... you don't have to be completely careless to read those quote marks as a quote, rather than the paraphrase or distillation of Voltaire's thoughts that they were. Perhaps the aphorism so accurately rendered his idea, that it supplanted his own wordier renditions of that theme? But it's really an Evelyn Hall quote, summarizing Voltaire's idea at that exact juncture. 

Other sources claim to find a similar locution of Voltaire's in a letter to a curate in 1770... but it's still not this exact quote (you can see those sources and more links at the "source" link above). So it may be what Voltaire meant, but it's not quite what he said. 

Hat tip, Michael Wade who blogs at asecondhandconjecture.com, in the comments to this essay. Wade's correction to John Stephenson's use of the customary Voltaire attribution made me look it up... which is what the blogosphere is all about. 

(and yeah, I'm still too busy to resume av-blogging, SF-blogging, or any kind of blogging with the regularity blogging merits. Pity as my life is full of av and SF events -K).