François-Marie Arouet, who wrote under the pen name Voltaire, was the most famous French writer of the eighteenth century. His novels, plays, correspondence, and pamphlets made him the Enlightenment’s sharpest critic of religious intolerance and political tyranny. His wit was genuine; his courage was real — he spent time in the Bastille and years in exile. His quotations deserve the same scrutiny applied to any frequently quoted figure.
The Most Famous Line He Didn’t Write
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” This line is everywhere attributed to Voltaire. It does not appear anywhere in his writings. The phrase was coined by English author Evelyn Beatrice Hall in her 1906 biography The Friends of Voltaire, where she wrote it as a paraphrase of his attitude — not as a direct quotation. Hall herself confirmed this later. The line captures something real about Voltaire’s views, but he never said it.
What Voltaire Actually Wrote
- “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” — From Questions sur les miracles (1765). This is well-sourced and worth reading in context: Voltaire was arguing against the social danger of irrational belief.
- “God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.” — This is widely attributed but lacks a verified primary source. Treat with caution.
- “Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” — Circulates widely, but sourcing is unclear. Not located in Voltaire’s documented works.
Candide as Quotable Philosophy
His novella Candide (1759) ends with the famous line: “We must cultivate our garden.” In French: “Il faut cultiver notre jardin.” The line is Voltaire’s definitive answer to Leibnizian optimism — not an endorsement of passivity but a call to practical, local action over grand philosophical systems. It is one of the most genuinely useful lines in Western literature for anyone feeling overwhelmed by large, intractable problems.
Why Voltaire Gets Misquoted
His actual opinions were strong enough to attract attribution of other strong opinions. Reading his letters and essays directly — many available in translation — reveals a writer more complex, more contradictory, and more interesting than the pithy sayings suggest.