It means that all people are born equal and have the freedom to fully express their will. The law is supreme and human rights are respected.

Voltaire did not like the book "On Spirit" written by Helvetius, thinking that it was "a bunch of unorganized ideas"; but when Helvetius, the encyclopedia, Voltaire defended the philosopher's book when it was attacked by the church and the authorities. So Hall said: "I don't agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

This has been Voltaire's consistent attitude since then. This was originally Hall's opinion or comment, but she added quotation marks to this sentence, causing later generations to think that it was a quote from Voltaire himself. So many people also quoted this sentence, resulting in this sentence spreading more and more widely.

As a result, this aroused the suspicion of some Voltaire scholars, because they had never read this sentence in Voltaire's works. In the end, Evelyn Beatrice Howe Hall admitted in 1939 that it was a "mistake" on her part to put this sentence in quotation marks, thereby causing readers to misunderstand it.

She said: "I don't agree with what you said, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Those are my own words and I should not put them in quotation marks. I made an unintentional mistake in misleading you into thinking that this was a quote from Voltaire. Please accept my apology."

The truth of this misinformed famous saying should have been revealed at this point.

But in 1963, a man named Nobel Gutmann An American Jewish translator published a book called "French Quotes" in which he mentioned this sentence again and put forward a different version. According to him, he said Vol. Tay did say this, but it was not what Voltaire said when he was defending Helvetius, but what Voltaire said in a letter to a priest named Le Leach. .

Gutman said that Voltaire’s original words were: “Mr. Priest, I hate what you write, but I will sacrifice my life to enable you to continue writing. Gutman believes that this has basically the same meaning as "I don't agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Therefore, it can be considered that Voltaire said this sentence.