author
Evelyn Beatrice Hall
1868–1956
Best known for her vivid books on Voltaire and his circle, this English writer also gave the world one of the most famous lines about free speech—though many people wrongly credit it to Voltaire himself. Writing as S. G. Tallentyre, she had a gift for turning literary history into something lively and memorable.
2 Audiobooks
The Friends of Voltaire
by Evelyn Beatrice Hall
The life of Voltaire
by Evelyn Beatrice Hall
About the author
Born on September 28, 1868, Evelyn Beatrice Hall was an English writer and biographer who often published under the pseudonym S. G. Tallentyre. She is chiefly remembered for her work on Voltaire, especially The Life of Voltaire and The Friends of Voltaire.
Her name is closely tied to the celebrated sentence, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Hall wrote it as a summary of Voltaire’s attitude, not as a direct quotation from him, and over time it was widely misattributed to Voltaire himself.
Hall died on April 13, 1956. Though she is not as widely known as some of the figures she wrote about, her clear, engaging way of presenting ideas helped shape how many later readers understood Voltaire and the spirit of intellectual freedom.