Réponse du Guichet du SavoirCette phrase n'est pas de Voltaire mais lui est souvent attribuée à tort.
Le site de
l'Université d'York nous fournit la réponse suivante :
[i]The phrase "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" is widely attributed to Voltaire, but cannot be found in his writings. With good reason. The phrase was invented by a later author as an epitome of his attitude. It appeared in The Friends of Voltaire (1906), written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall under the pseudonym S[tephen] G. Tallentyre.
Hall wrote:
...The men who had hated [the book], and had not particularly loved Helvétius, 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.
...
Hall herself claimed later that she had been paraphrasing Voltaire's words in his Essay on Tolerance: "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too."[/i]
L'auteur de cette phrase est en réalité Evelyn Beatrice Hall dans "The friends of Voltaire" en 1906, ouvrage dans lequel elle résume la pensée de Voltaire.Voltaire est en revanche l'auteur de la citation suivante :
[i]"Les faux brillants se trouvent plus aisément que les pierres précieuses." [/i]
(Lettres philosophiques, p.137 Éd. Garnier-Flammarion n° 15)
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