No pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage-ground of truth.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all occasions.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
There is no philosopher in the world so great but he believes a million things on the faith of other people and accepts a great many more truths than he demonstrates.
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) French Historian, Political Scientist
Let your desire for truth transcend all minor considerations. Ignorance is invariably confident. The man of knowledge learns to realize his own needs. Be honest and severe in your self-appraisal. Learn the art of learning, and you are well on the way to achievement. True greatness is reflective, not assertive.
—Grenville Kleiser (1868–1935) Canadian Author
What a man sees only in his best moments as truth is truth in all moments.
—Joseph Cook
To be faithless to a given promise is as sinful as idolatry.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Deception in words is a greater sin than deception in money matters.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
The trouble with too many people is they believe the realm of truth always lies within their vision.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Let us then be what we are, and speak what we think, and in all things keep ourselves loyal to truth.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
You ought to be true for the sake of the folks who think you are true. You never should stoop to a deed that your folks think you would not do. If you are false to yourself, be the blemish but small, you have injured your folks; you have been false to them all.
—Edgar Guest (1881–1959) English-born American Poet, Radio Personality, TV Personality
There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth.
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American Poet
When two truths seem directly opposed to each other, we must not question either, but remember there is a third — God — who reserves to himself the right to harmonize them.
—Sophie Swetchine (1782–1857) Russian Mystic, Writer
There is no wisdom save in truth. Truth is everlasting, but our ideas about truth are changeable. Only a little of the first fruits of wisdom, only a few fragments of the boundless heights, breadths and depths of truth, have I been able to gather.
—Martin Luther (1483–1546) German Protestant Theologian
The search for truth is more precious than its possession.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Never lie when the truth is more profitable.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909–1966) Polish Aphorist, Poet
The righteous promise little and do much.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
You never find yourself until you face the truth.
—Pearl Bailey (1918–1990) American Jazz Singer, Actress, Writer
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived, and dishonest—but the myth—persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
The truth is balance. However the opposite of truth, which is unbalance, may not be a lie.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
Careless seems the great Avenger; history’s pages but record
One death-grapple in the darkness twixt old systems and the Word;
Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne,
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.
New occasions teach new duties;
Time makes ancient good uncouth;
They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth;
Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires! we ourselves must Pilgrims be,
Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea,
Nor attempt the Futures portal with the Pasts blood-rusted key.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
The liar is worse than the thief.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
The truth is often a terrible weapon of aggression. It is possible to lie, and even to murder, with the truth.
—Alfred Adler (1870–1937) Austrian Psychiatrist
There is nothing so strong or safe in an emergency of life as the simple truth.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
Although this may seem a paradox, all exact science is dominated by the idea of approximation. When a man tells you that he knows the exact truth about anything, you are safe in inferring that he is an inexact man.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Say not, ‘I have found THE truth,’ but rather, ‘I have found A truth.’.
—Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none. Recognizing our limitations and imperfections is the first requisite of progress. Those who believe they have “arrived” believe they have nowhere to go. Some not only have closed their minds to new truth, but they sit on the lid.
—Dale Turner (1917–2006) American Priest, Columnist, Epigrammist
To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful.
—Edward R. Murrow (1908–65) American Journalist, Radio Personality
Live authentically. Live your truth. And if you love me for anything, love me because I live mine.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
The truth is that all of us attain the greatest success and happiness possible in this life whenever we use our native capacities to their greatest extent.
—Smiley Blanton
Mental fight means thinking against the current, not with it. It is our business to puncture gas bags and discover the seeds of truth.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth; when perfect sincerity is expected, perfect freedom must be allowed; nor has any one who is apt to be angry when he hears the truth, any cause to wonder that he does not hear it.
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
He who has learnt to control his tongue has attained self-control in a great measure. When such a person speaks he will be heard with respect and attention. His words will be remembered, for they will be good and true. When one who is established in truth prays with a pure heart, then things he really needs come to him when they are really needed: he does not have to run after them. The man firmly established in truth gets the fruit of his actions without apparently doing anything. God, the source of all truth, supplies his needs and looks after his welfare.
—B. K. S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian Hindu Yoga Teacher
The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught.
—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) German-born Swiss Novelist, Poet
We know how to speak many falsehoods that resemble real things, but we know, when we will, how to speak true things.
—Hesiod (f.700 BCE) Greek Poet
The cruelest lies are often told in silence.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
If I had my hand full of truth, I would take good care how I opened it.
—Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757) French Essayist, Polymath, Philosopher
A man may be in as just possession of truth as of a city, and yet be forced to surrender.
—Thomas Browne (1605–82) English Author, Physician
If one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
What is true of the individual will be tomorrow true of the whole nation if individuals will but refuse to lose heart and hope.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Truth lasts forever, but falsehood must vanish.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Pretty much all the honest truth-telling there is in the world is done by children.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
Purity of soul cannot be lost without consent.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
Never allow the integrity of your own way of seeing things and saying things to be swamped by the influence of a master, however great.
—George Parsons Lathrop (1851–98) American Poet, Novelist, Newspaper Editor
If you want to annoy your neighbors, tell the truth about them.
—Pietro Aretino (1492–1556) Italian Author, Playwright, Poet, Satirist
A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
All cruel people describe themselves as paragons of frankness.
—Tennessee Williams (1911–83) American Playwright
There are two kinds of truth, small truth and great truth. You can recognize a small truth because its opposite is a falsehood. The opposite of a great truth is another truth.
—Niels Bohr (1885–1962) Danish Physicist
Truth is truth. If you hurt someone, you hurt self. If you help someone, you help self.
—Marlo Morgan (1937–98) American Novelist, Author
An exaggeration is a truth that has lost its temper.
—Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
The superior man does not set his mind either for anything, or against anything; what is right he will follow.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
But instinct is something which transcends knowledge. We have, undoubtedly, certain finer fibers that enable us to perceive truths when logical deduction, or any other willful effort of the brain, is futile.
—Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian-American Electrical Engineer, Inventor
The pursuit of truth shall set you free – even if you never catch up with it.
—Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American Civil Liberties Lawyer
Once you eliminate the impossible,
whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
—Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish Writer
Truth is exact correspondence with reality.
—Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) Indian Hindu Mystic, Religious Leader, Philosopher, Teacher
Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, and all are slaves beside.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
Truth is established by investigation and delay; falsehood prospers by precipitancy.
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
The truth has a million faces, but there is only one truth.
—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) German-born Swiss Novelist, Poet
The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.
—Unknown
Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
With the truth, you need to get rid of it as soon as possible and pass it on to someone else. As with illness, this is the only way to be cured of it. The person who keeps truth in his hands has lost.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
The truth is always exciting. Speak it, then. Life is dull without it.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
It is twice as hard to crush a half-truth as a whole lie.
—Austin O’Malley (1858–1932) American Aphorist, Ophthalmologist
Perfect truth is possible only with knowledge, and in knowledge the whole essence of the thing operates on the soul and is joined essentially to it.
—Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) Dutch Philosopher, Theologian
Chase after the truth like all hell and you’ll free yourself, even though you never touch its coat-tails.
—Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American Civil Liberties Lawyer
It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it.
—Archibald Alexander Hodge (1823–86) American Presbyterian Theologian
Eclecticism. Every truth is so true that any truth must be false.
—F. H. Bradley (1846–1924 ) British Idealist Philosopher
The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt.
—Thomas Merton (1915–68) American Trappist Monk
Though I can make my extravaganzas appear credible, I cannot make the truth appear so.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Truth tells its own tale.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
In seeking absolute truth we aim at the unattainable, and must be content with finding broken portions.
—William Osler (1849–1919) Canadian Physician
The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
The spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom-they are the pillars of society.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.
—Mario Andretti (b.1940) Italian-born American Sportsperson
The truth is more important than the facts.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known.
—John Lennon (1940–80) British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Activist
Truth, when not sought after, rarely comes to light.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
Tell the truth and shame the devil.
—Common Proverb
Truth makes many appeals, not the least of which is its power to shock.
—Jules Renard (1864–1910) French Writer, Diarist
The truth comes as conqueror only because we have lost the art of receiving it as guest.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
There is no wisdom like frankness.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
Truth is the seal of God.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Truth is the seal to God’s works.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.
—Niels Bohr (1885–1962) Danish Physicist
No problem can be solved until it is reduced to some simple form. The changing of a vague difficulty into a specific, concrete form is a very essential element in thinking.
—J. P. Morgan (1837–1913) American Financier, Philanthropist, Art Collector
And in the end, through the long ages of our quest for light, it will be found that truth is still mightier than the sword. For out of the welter of human carnage and human sorrow and human weal the indestructible thing that will always live is a sound idea.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
You never see what you want to see, forever playing to the gallery.
—Robertson Davies (1913–95) Canada Journalist, Playwright, Academic, Critic, Novelist
It is not moral to lie, but you don’t always have to tell the truth.
—Ignaz Bernstein (1836–1909) Russian-Jewish Bibliophile
This is the punishment of the liar, that when he tells the truth nobody believes him.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Truth is heavy, therefore few carry it.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
You must have absolute faith in your own perceptions of truth. Never act in haste or hurry; be deliberated in everything; wait until you know the true way.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Our conscious motivations, ideas, and beliefs are a blend of false information, biases, irrational passions, rationalizations, prejudices, in which morsels of truth swim around and give the reassurance albeit false, that the whole mixture is real and true. The thinking processes attempt to organize this whole cesspool of illusions according to the laws of plausibility. This level of consciousness is supposed to reflect reality; it is the map we use for organizing our life.
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher
I cannot give any scientist of any age better advice than this: the intensity of a conviction that a hypothesis is true has no bearing over whether it is true or not.
—Peter Medawar (1915–87) British Zoologist, Immunologist
Truth never damages a cause that is just.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
A hair divides what is false and true.
—Omar Khayyam (1048–1123) Persian Mathematician
The greatest enemy of any one of our truths may be the rest of our truths.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
To break a verbal engagement, though legally not binding, is a moral wrong.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Many people would be more truthful were it not for their uncontrollable desire to talk.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
The love of truth lies at the root of much humor.
—Robertson Davies (1913–95) Canada Journalist, Playwright, Academic, Critic, Novelist
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen events, meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would have come their way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!”
—William Hutchinson Murray (1913–96) Scottish Mountaineer
The greatest and noblest pleasure which men can have in this world is to discover new truths; and the next is to shake off old prejudices.
—Frederick II of Prussia (1712–86) Prussian Monarch
I’m going to speak my mind because I have nothing to lose.
—S. I. Hayakawa (1906–92) Canadian-born American Academic, Elected Rep, Politician
It is more important that a proposition be interesting than that it be true.
—Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English Mathematician, Philosopher
Man with his burning soul has but an hour of breath to build a ship of truth in which his soul may sail — sail on the sea of death, for death takes toll of beauty, courage, youth, of all but truth.
—John Masefield (1878–1967) English Poet, Novelist, Playwright
As there is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it, so reasonable arguments, challenges to magnanimity, and appeals to sympathy or justice, are folly when we are dealing with human crocodiles and boa-constrictors.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
We must not let go manifest truths because we cannot answer all questions about them.
—Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) Anglican Church Historian, Clergyman
True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.
—George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax (1633–95) British Statesman, Writer, Politician
Truth is never to be expected from authors whose understanding is warped with enthusiasm.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
Facts don’t cease to exist because they are ignored.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
Accuracy of statement is one of the first elements of truth; inaccuracy is a near kin to falsehood.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
Honesty of thought and speech and written word is a jewel, and they who curb prejudice and seek honorably to know and speak the truth are the only builders of a better life.
—John Galsworthy (1867–1933) English Novelist, Playwright
Truth is neither alive nor dead; it just aggravates itself all the time.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentional lying, that there is so much falsehood in the world.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
There are admirable potentialities in every human being. Believe in your strength and your youth. Learn to repeat endlessly to yourself, ‘It all depends on me’.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
It is sinful to deceive any man, be he even a heathen.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
That in the beginning when the world was young there were a great many thoughts but no such thing as truth. Man made the truths himself and each truth was a composite of a great many vague thoughts. All about in the world were truths and they were all beautiful.
—Sherwood Anderson (1876–1941) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
People always think something’s all true.
—J. D. Salinger (1919–2010) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
No human being is constituted to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; and even the best of men must be content with fragments, with partial glimpses, never the full fruition.
—William Osler (1849–1919) Canadian Physician
Truth is the secret of eloquence and of virtue, the basis of moral authority; it is the highest summit of art and of life.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth’s sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.
—Louisa May Alcott (1832–88) American Novelist
Truth exists, only falsehood has to be invented.
—Georges Braque (1882–1963) French Painter, Artist, Sculptor
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
In proportion as we perceive and embrace the truth do we become just, heroic, magnanimous, divine.
—William Lloyd Garrison (1805–79) American Journalist, Abolitionist
Truth will always be truth, regardless of lack of understanding, disbelief or ignorance.
—W. Clement Stone (1902–2002) American Self-help Guru, Entrepreneur
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
Truth is such a rare thing, it is delightful to tell it.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
Whatever has a mystery thrown round it causes the truth to appear more grand and awful.
—Francis Thompson (1859–1907) English Poet, Ascetic
What we have in us of the image of God is the love of truth and justice.
—Demosthenes (384–322 BCE) Greek Statesman, Orator
You are goodness and mercy and compassion and understanding. You are peace and joy and light. You are forgiveness and patience, strength and courage, a helper in time of need, a comforter in time of sorrow, a healer in time of injury, a teacher in times of confusion. You are the deepest wisdom and the highest truth; the greatest peace and the grandest love. You are these things. And in moments of your life you have known yourself to be these things. Choose now to know yourself as these things always.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit.
—Edward R. Murrow (1908–65) American Journalist, Radio Personality
The grand character of truth is its capability of enduring the test of universal experience, and coming unchanged out of every possible form of fair discussion.
—John Herschel (1792–1871) English Mathematician, Astronomer, Chemist
Truth will sooner come out from error than from confusion.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
If a man never contradicts himself, it is because he never says anything.
—Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) Spanish Educator, Philosopher, Author
Begin to act from your dominion. Declare the truth by telling yourself that there is nothing to be afraid of, that you no longer entertain any images of fear.
—Ernest Holmes (1887–1960) American New Thought Writer, Teacher
Always acknowledge the truth.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
—Max Planck (1858–1947) German Theoretical Physicist
When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.
—Otto von Bismarck (1815–98) German Chancellor, Prime Minister
I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to the light I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right—stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
People say they love truth, but in reality they want to believe that which they love is true.
—Robert Ringer (b.1979) American Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker, Author
Evil thoughts, lusts, and malicious purposes cannot go forth, like wandering pollen, from one human mind to another, finding unsuspected lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defence.
—Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) American Christian Science Religious Leader, Humanitarian, Writer
You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or who says it.
—Malcolm X (1925–65) American Civil Rights Leader
The great advantage about telling the truth is that nobody ever believes it.
—Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) British Novelist, Playwright, Essayist, Translator, Poet
If you shut your door to all errors, truth will be shut out.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
He that opposes his own judgment against the consent of the times ought to be backed with unanswerable truths; and he that has truth on his side is a fool, as well as a coward, if he is afraid to own it because of other men’s opinions.
—Daniel Defoe (1659–1731) English Writer, Journalist, Pamphleteer
Truth is its own witness.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Do you want a sign that you’re asleep? Here it is: you’re suffering. Suffering is a sign that you’re out of touch with the truth. Suffering is given to you that you might open your eyes to the truth, that you might understand that there’s falsehood somewhere, just as physical pain is given to you so you will understand that there is disease or illness somewhere. Suffering occurs when you clash with reality. When your illusions clash with reality, when your falsehoods clash with truth, then you have suffering. Otherwise there is no suffering.
—Anthony de Mello (1931–87) Indian-born American Theologian
When I tell the truth, it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day, like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power.
—Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian-American Electrical Engineer, Inventor
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Frank and explicit; that is the right line to take when you wish to conceal your own mind and to confuse the minds of others.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
Stick to the old truths and the old paths, and learn their divineness by sick beds, and in everyday work, and do not darken your mind with intellectual puzzles, which may breed disbelief, but can never breed vital religion or practical usefulness.
—Charles Kingsley (1819–75) English Clergyman, Academic, Historian, Novelist
The best mind-altering drug is truth.
—Lily Tomlin (b.1939) American Comedy Actress
If people are not being told the truth about their problems, the majority not only may, but invariably must, make the wrong judgments.
—Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–99) American Lawyer, Orator, Agnostic
If ever we hear a case of lying, we must look for a severe parents. A lie would have no sense unless the truth were felt as dangerous.
—Alfred Adler (1870–1937) Austrian Psychiatrist
I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
—Isaac Newton (1643–1727) English Physicist, Mathematician, Astronomer, Theologian
Often the surest way to convey misinformation is to tell the strict truth.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The truth is on the march and nothing will stop it.
—Emile Zola (1840–1902) French Novelist
The cruelest lies are often told in silence. A man may have sat in a room for hours and not opened his mouth, and yet come out of that room a disloyal friend or a vile calumniator.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
We find but few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth. It is their common method to take on trust what they distribute to the public; by which means, a falsehood, once received from a famed writer, becomes traditional to posterity.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
Truth will stand, but falsehood must fall.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth — and truth rewarded me.
—Simone de Beauvoir (1908–86) French Philosopher, Writer, Feminist
The most natural beauty in the world is honesty and moral truth; for all beauty is truth. True features make the beauty of a face; and true proportions the beauty of architecture; as true measures that of harmony and music. In poetry, which is all fable, truth still is the perfection.
—Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (1621–83) British Statesman
Truth will ultimately prevail where there are plans taken to bring it to light.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
Falsehood is cowardice, the truth courage.
—Hosea Ballou (1771–1852) American Theologian
Truth is one forever absolute, but opinion is truth filtered through the moods, the blood, the disposition of the spectator.
—Wendell Phillips (1811–84) American Abolitionist, Lawyer, Orator
In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true.
—John Lyly (1554–1606) English Dramatist, Novelist, Writer
There are trivial truths and the great truths. The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false. The opposite of a great truth is also true.
—Niels Bohr (1885–1962) Danish Physicist
To seek for the truth, for the sake of knowing the truth, is one of the noblest objects a man can live for.
—William Motter Inge (1913–73) American Playwright, Novelist
Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
If I can put one touch of a rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, I shall feel that I have worked with God.
—George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish Novelist, Lecturer, Poet
Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness; no laziness; no procrastination; never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
I am the fellow citizen of every being that thinks; my country is Truth.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with the important matters.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
We do not condemn the preachers as an individual but we condemn what they teach. We urge that the preachers teach the truth, to teach our people the one important guiding rule of conduct — unity of purpose.
—Malcolm X (1925–65) American Civil Rights Leader
Truth is the nursing mother of genius? No man true can be absolutely true to himself, eschewing cant, compromise, servile imitation, and complaisance without becoming original.
—Margaret Fuller (1810–50) American Feminist, Writer, Revolutionary
Truth is not a crystal one can put in one’s pocket, but an infinite fluid into which one falls headlong.
—Robert Musil (1880–1942) Austrian Novelist
Science is the search for truth – it is not a game in which one tries to beat his opponent, to do harm to others. We need to have the spirit of science in international affairs, to make the conduct of international affairs the effort to find t he right solution, the just solution of international problems, not the effort by each nation to get the better of other nations, to do harm to them when it is possible.
—Linus Pauling (1901–94) American Scientist, Peace Activist
No one truth is rightly held till it is clearly conceived and stated, and no single truth is adequately comprehended till it is viewed in harmonious relations to all the other truths of the system of which Christ is the centre.
—Archibald Alexander Hodge (1823–86) American Presbyterian Theologian
The people have a right to the truth as they have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Truth breeds hatred.
—Bias of Priene (fl. 6th century BCE) Greek Orator
I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.
—Pietro Aretino (1492–1556) Italian Author, Playwright, Poet, Satirist
A few observations and much reasoning lead to error; many observations and a little reasoning to truth.
—Alexis Carrel (1873–1944) American Surgeon, Biologist
This above all—to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinion of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.
—Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) New Zealand-born British Author
Things are as they are. Looking out into it the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.
—Alan Watts (1915–73) British-American Philosopher, Author
Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lies comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, around him, and so loses all respect for himself and others.
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–81) Russian Novelist, Essayist, Writer
Ultimately, our troubles are due to dogma and deduction; we find no new truth because we take some venerable but questionable proposition as the indubitable starting point, and never think of putting this assumption itself to a test of observation or experiment.
—William C. Durant (1861–1947) American Industrialist
The true snob never rests: there is always a higher goal to attain, and there are, by the same token, always more and more people to look down upon.
—Russell Lynes (1910–91) American Art Historian, Photographer, Author, Editor
Truth lives on in the midst of deception.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
A lie told often enough becomes truth.
—Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian Revolutionary Leader
The enemies of the truth are always awfully nice.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Essayist
The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Live truth instead of professing it.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
It will never be possible by pure reason to arrive at some absolute truth.
—Werner Heisenberg (1901–76) German Theoretical Physicist