爱华网个人文集 2008-10-10 13:56
今天在我的一篇博文中发现了一位叫（LE YANG）的网友的留言，他提醒我说，我在文章引用的那句经常被人引用的文字：“我并不同意你的观点，但是我誓死捍卫你说话的权利”（英文原文为“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”；法文原文为“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”）其实并非伏尔泰所言。留言给出了相应的证据，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。在这本书中，作者告诉我们，这句名言是英国作家伊夫林·比阿特丽斯·霍尔（Evelyn Beatrice Hall，1868—1919）在其撰写的《伏尔泰的朋友们》（THE FRIENDS OF VOLTAIRE）一书第199页中提到的。
为慎重起见，我在网上探索了一番，结果在维基百科（http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Evelyn_Beatrice_Hall）上发现如下文字：
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." （中文译文：这句话首先见于霍尔以笔名Stephen G. Tallentyre所著的《伏尔泰的朋友们》（1906）一书中。这不是一段引言，而是一个阐释伏尔泰观点的段落，基于伏尔泰在《论宽容》中所述的：“自己独立思考，并让他人同样享有这样做的特权”，而这句话的最初来源可能是一封给勒希什先生的信（1770年2月6日）：“拉贝先生，我讨厌你所写的东西，但是我会拼命的给你写的自由。” ） 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."（中文译文：这句话在《读者文摘》（1934年6月）被误作为了伏尔泰的“可引用的引言”，但基于被误解的情况，霍尔曾经宣称过：“我并不是在暗示伏尔泰逐字逐句的使用过这些话，并且如果在他的任何一部作品中发现了原文的话我会非常惊讶的。” ） 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. （中文译文：1906年这句话最早出现时的版本是：“精神”（《De l'Esprit》，埃尔维修斯作）并非一时的成功，而是那个世纪中最著名的书籍之一。那些憎恶它的或是并不喜欢埃尔维修斯的人，现在都蜂拥到他身边。伏尔泰原谅了他所有的伤害，不管是有意的还是无意的。“这真是对一个炸蛋卷的大惊小怪！”当他听闻这样的狂热时惊呼道。为了那样一点小事去迫害一个人是多么极端的不公！“我虽然不赞同你的意见，但我誓死捍卫你说话的权利，”是他现在的主张。
另有一个网页（http://ask.yahoo.com/20030331.html）也提供了类似的证据：
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...
看来，这个名言，我们一直被误引了。不过我手头上没有那本传记，因此，事实如何，我们还不能作为定论，记下这些作为备案吧。
不过，这至少告诉我们，引用二手材料往往是不可靠的。
