# Source of Chomsky quote

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-chomsky-quote/712460>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 12, 2015, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-chomsky-quote/712460 "2015-02-12T08:49:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Astramance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f1d935/32.png) [@Astramance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astramance)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-chomsky-quote/712460/1 "2015-02-12T08:49:12Z")

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Would anyone know where does the following quote attributed to Chomsky come from?  
“If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”  
Thanks!

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**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-chomsky-quote/712460/2 "2015-02-12T10:05:51Z")

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I _think_ it’s from [this 1992 interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my806jPa72k).

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**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-chomsky-quote/712460/3 "2015-02-12T10:12:58Z")

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> [@septimus](#):
>
> I _think_ it’s from [this 1992 interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my806jPa72k).

Yes. He says it at 16:30.

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**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-chomsky-quote/712460/4 "2015-02-12T10:35:26Z")

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For what it’s worth, it’s a pretty common notion. Many people have said approximately the same thing. Probably the most famous version of this is usually attributed to Voltaire, although actually it’s a paraphrase of his ideas that a biographer created. The quotation attributed to Voltaire is “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”:

> **[Evelyn Beatrice Hall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Beatrice_Hall)**
>
> Evelyn Beatrice Hall (28 September 1868 – 13 April 1956),\[Note 1\] who wrote under the pseudonym S\[tephen\] G. Tallentyre, was an English writer best known for her biography of Voltaire entitled The Life of Voltaire, first published in 1903. She also wrote The Friends of Voltaire, which she completed in 1906.
> In The Friends of Voltaire, Hall wrote: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" as an illustration of Voltaire's beliefs. This quotation – which ...