Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?”
- Source
- Areopagitica
- Date
- 1644
Meaning of “Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew…”
Milton argues that confidence in truth should make room for open contest rather than prior censorship: ideas gain strength by being tested publicly against what may be false.
Where does it come from?
Areopagitica, Project Gutenberg #608. The sentence appears in Milton’s argument against licensing and prior restraint on printing. It is a defense of open intellectual encounter, not a claim that every expression is harmless or beyond later judgment.
