I can disagree with you, but I will defend your right to speak to the death. It was evelyn beatrice hall, a British woman writer, who talked about the "Helvetius Incident".

Voltaire once disliked the book On Spirit written by claude adrian Helvetius, calling it "a jumble of thoughts". However, when this encyclopedic philosopher's book was published and attacked by the church and the authorities, Voltaire defended it.

It is because of this incident that Evelyn Beatrice Hall, a female writer, wrote the following sentence when commenting on this incident: "I disagree with your point of view, but I will defend your right to speak to the death." However, she misquoted her own comments, which led future generations to mistakenly think that it was from Voltaire himself.

Extended data

Voltaire's literary views and interests basically inherited the classical heritage of17th century, which was mainly manifested in his poetry and tragic creation.

His epic Henry's Courtyard (1728) takes the religious war in France in the 6th century as the theme, and writes that Henry IV of Bourbon dynasty became king after winning the civil war, and issued an amnesty in the south to protect the religious freedom of Protestants. Henry IV in the epic is regarded as a model of enlightened monarch.

Voltaire's philosophical poems are thorough in reasoning, and satirical poems are witty, calm and unique.

References:

Baidu encyclopedia-Voltaire