被誤引的伏爾泰名言——I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it
個人文集 2008-10-10 13:56
今天在我的一篇博文中發(fā)現(xiàn)了一位叫（LE YANG）的網(wǎng)友的留言，他提醒我說，我在文章引用的那句經(jīng)常被人引用的文字：“我并不同意你的觀點，但是我誓死捍衛(wèi)你說話的權利”（英文原文為“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”；法文原文為“Je ne suis pas d’accord avec ce que vous dites, mais je me battrai jusqu’à la mort pour que vous ayez le droit de le dire”）其實并非伏爾泰所言。留言給出了相應的證據(jù)，即Boller, Jr., Paul F.; George, John 等人于1989年出版的一本著作：They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions. New York: Oxford University Press。在這本書中，作者告訴我們，這句名言是英國作家伊夫林·比阿特麗斯·霍爾 （Evelyn Beatrice Hall，1868—1919）在其撰寫的《伏爾泰的朋友們》（THE FRIENDS OF VOLTAIRE）一書第199頁中提到的。
為慎重起見，我在網(wǎng)上探索了一番，結果在維基百科（http://en./wiki/Evelyn_Beatrice_Hall）上發(fā)現(xiàn)如下文字：
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
- These words were first used by Hall, writing under the pseudonym of Stephen G. Tallentyre in The Friends of Voltaire (1906). They were not a quote, but a paraphrase of Voltaire's attitudes, based on his Essay on Tolerance where he asserts: "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too". Its ultimate origin may lie in a letter to M. le Riche (February 6, 1770): "Monsieur l'abbé, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write." （中文譯文：這句話首先見于霍爾以筆名Stephen G. Tallentyre所著的《伏爾泰的朋友們》（1906）一書中。這不是一段引言，而是一個闡釋伏爾泰觀點的段落，基于伏爾泰在《論寬容》中所述的：“自己獨立思考，并讓他人同樣享有這樣做的特權”，而這句話的最初來源可能是一封給勒希什先生的信（1770年2月6日）：“拉貝先生，我討厭你所寫的東西，但是我會拼命的給你寫的自由。” ）
- This statement was misattributed to Voltaire as a "Quotable Quote" in Reader's Digest (June 1934), but in response to others misattributing it, Hall had declared: "I did not mean to imply that Voltaire used these words verbatim and should be surprised if they are found in any of his works."（中文譯文：這句話在《讀者文摘》（1934年6月）被誤作為了伏爾泰的“可引用的引言”，但基于被誤解的情況，霍爾曾經(jīng)宣稱過：“我并不是在暗示伏爾泰逐字逐句的使用過這些話，并且如果在他的任何一部作品中發(fā)現(xiàn)了原文的話我會非常驚訝的。” ）
- The 1906 paragraph in which the statement first appears reads: "On the Mind" [De l'Esprit by Helvétius] became not the success of the season, but one of the most famous books of the century. The men who had hated it 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. （中文譯文：1906年這句話最早出現(xiàn)時的版本是：“精神”（《De l'Esprit》，埃爾維修斯作）并非一時的成功，而是那個世紀中最著名的書籍之一。那些憎惡它的或是并不喜歡埃爾維修斯的人，現(xiàn)在都蜂擁到他身邊。伏爾泰原諒了他所有的傷害，不管是有意的還是無意的。“這真是對一個炸蛋卷的大驚小怪！”當他聽聞這樣的狂熱時驚呼道。為了那樣一點小事去迫害一個人是多么極端的不公！“我雖然不贊同你的意見，但我誓死捍衛(wèi)你說話的權利，”是他現(xiàn)在的主張。
另有一個網(wǎng)頁（http://ask.yahoo.com/20030331.html）也提供了類似的證據(jù)：
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| Voltaire, that master of liberal philosophy renowned for his satirical wit. Fran?ois-Marie Arouet (Voltaire was his nom de plume) was one of the most celebrated writers of the 18th-century intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment. His tolerant religious and political beliefs were in sharp opposition to established views, and his biting commentaries twice led to his imprisonment, and eventually, to his exile to England.
But the fact of the matter is, Voltaire didn't pen or utter the sentiment you quote. According to a number of web sites, "The phrase was invented by a later author as an epitome of his attitude." It comes from The Friends of Voltaire, written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall and published in 1906 under the pseudonym Stephen G. Tallentyre. Hall said that she paraphrased Voltaire's words in his "Treatise on Toleration," which includes such thoughts as:
Not only is it extremely cruel to persecute in this brief life those who do not think the way we do, but I do not know if it might be too presumptuous to declare their eternal damnation.
The issues Voltaire addressed are surprisingly contemporary and as relevant today as in 18th-century France. Now we'd love to discuss the matter further, but we must go cultivate our garden...
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