TRUTH QUOTES XIX

quotations about truth

If the feeble mind of man did not presume to resist the clear evidence of truth, but yielded its infirmity to wholesome doctrines, as to a health-giving medicine, until it obtained from God, by its faith and piety, the grace needed to heal it, they who have just ideas, and express them in suitable language, would need to use no long discourse to refute the errors of empty conjecture. But this mental infirmity is now more prevalent and hurtful than ever, to such an extent that even after the truth has been as fully demonstrated as man can prove it to man, they hold for the very truth their own unreasonable fancies, either on account of their great blindness, which prevents them from seeing what is plainly set before them, or on account of their opinionative obstinacy, which prevents them from acknowledging the force of what they do see.

ST. AUGUSTINE

The City of God

Tags: St. Augustine


I do not think that so much harm is done by giving error to a child, as by giving truth in a lifeless form.

WILLIAM E. CHANNING

Thoughts

Tags: William E. Channing


Half truths were a wonderful way to inspire credibility.

DAVID BALDACCI

The Winner

Tags: David Baldacci


Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth.

ALDOUS HUXLEY

Brave New World

Tags: Aldous Huxley


Each man has in him the potential to realize the truth through his own will and endeavour and to help others to realize it.

AUNG SAN SUU KYI

In Quest of Democracy

Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi


When all is said and done, how do we know but that our own unreason may be better than another's truth? for it has been warmed on our hearths and in our souls, and is ready for the wild bees of truth to hive in it, and make their sweet honey.

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

The Celtic Twilight

Tags: William Butler Yeats


Understand that the tongue can conceal the truth, but the eyes--never!

MIKHAIL BULGAKOV

The Master and Margarita

Tags: Mikhail Bulgakov


Truth is the edict of God.

H. W. SHAW

attributed, Day's Collacon


Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human spirit is capable.

BERTRAND RUSSELL

"University Education", Fact and Fiction

Tags: Bertrand Russell


Truth ... is a hard apple, whether one is throwing it or catching it.

DONALD BARTHELME

"Rebecca"

Tags: Donald Barthelme


The heart is an artist that paints over what profoundly disturbs us, leaving on the canvas a less dark, less sharp version of the truth.

DEAN KOONTZ

Forever Odd

Tags: Dean Koontz


One truth a man lives is worth a thousand he only utters.

EPICHARMUS

attributed, Day's Collacon


No combatants are so unequally matched as when one is shackled with error, while the other rejoices in the self-demonstrability of truth.

HORACE MANN

Thoughts

Tags: Horace Mann


Man can embody truth but he cannot know it.

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

letter to Elizabeth Pelham, January 4, 1939

Tags: William Butler Yeats


Just think, reader, what will happen to you if the truth of a mad beast overpowers the sane truth of man?

MAXIM GORKY

Untimely Thoughts

Tags: Maxim Gorky


It takes great courage to back truth unacceptable to our times. There's a punishment for it, and it's usually crucifixion.

JOHN STEINBECK

East of Eden

Tags: John Steinbeck


Every dogma embodies some shade of truth to give it seeming currency.

AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT

Table Talk

Tags: Amos Bronson Alcott


Arguably, this strategy is not viable beyond laboratory settings, because the truth is always unknown on the streets.

ANNA K. BOBAK

"Can We Improve National Security Using What We Know about Face Recognition?", Scientific American, April 18, 2017


We're told that we're living in a post-truth (or post-factual) era, a political culture in which debate is framed largely by appeals to emotion disconnected from the details of policy, a culture that eschews a foundation of solid facts. Indeed, it is said that in this post-truth time, facts have become "secondary" if not entirely irrelevant. But who gets stuck with this "post-truth" label -- and it is typically used as an insult -- is not so simple.

GILBERT DOCTOROW

"Complexities of a 'Post-Truth' Era", Consortium News, May 11, 2017


We can, in general, be much less sure of the truth of a thing, than of the falsehood; because though every part we have seen may agree, yet we cannot tell how many may be behind, and one failure of connection will be sufficient to falsify the whole.

FULKE GREVILLE

Maxims, Characters, and Reflections