TRUTH QUOTES XXIV

quotations about truth

There are always men who are ready to ask, with an idle curiosity, with an interest too superficial to wait for an answer, this question, "What is truth?" There are always those who are ready to ask it, with a saddened or scornful skepticism, as quite sure there is no answer to be given; no truth; nothing but fancies, speculations, notions, opinions, fleeting, contradictory, and futile. And, thank God, there have always been men, like Jesus, who have seen the truth to be such an transcendent, vital, divine reality that they knew it to be a thing worth living, worth dying for. So Jesus could declare the truth to be, no fancy, no delusion, no mere opinion or speculation, but that thing to bear witness to which was the one purpose of his existence, the thing for which he was born.

SAMUEL LONGFELLOW

"Truth"


But O the truth, the truth! the many eyes
That look on it! the diverse things they see!

GEORGE MEREDITH

"A Ballad of Fair Ladies in Revolt"

Tags: George Meredith


When the love of truth rules in the heart, the light of truth will guide the practice.

BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE

Moral and Religious Aphorisms


It is much easier to recognize error than to find truth; for error lies on the surface and may be overcome; but truth lies in the depths, and to search for it is not given to everyone.

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe


There is no higher religion than the truth.

HELENA PETROVNA BLAVATSKY

The Essential Works of Helena Blavatsky


Your anger and damage and grief are the way to the truth. We don't have much truth to express unless we have gone into those rooms and closets and woods and abysses that we were told not go in to. When we have gone in and looked around for a long while, just breathing and finally taking it in -- then we will be able to speak in our own voice and to stay in the present moment. And that moment is home.

ANNE LAMOTT

Bird by Bird

Tags: Anne Lamott


Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.

BERTRAND RUSSELL

"A Liberal Decalogue", New York Times Magazine, December 16, 1951

Tags: Bertrand Russell


All men need truth as they need water; if wise men are as high grounds where the springs rise, ordinary men are the lower grounds which their waters nourish.

ELIZA COOK

Diamond Dust


Truth rides a long road.

EDWARD COUNSEL

Maxims


Truth often spoils the dinner.

EDWARD COUNSEL

Maxims


Our feelings often color the truth.

EDWARD COUNSEL

Maxims


The truth isn't always beauty, but the hunger for it is.

NADINE GORDIMER

"A Bolter and the Invincible Summer"

Tags: Nadine Gordimer


As ten millions of circles can never make a square, so the united voice of myriads cannot lend the smallest foundation to falsehood.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH

The Vicar of Wakefield

Tags: Oliver Goldsmith


Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.

WINSTON CHURCHILL

attributed, Physics, God, and the End of the World

Tags: Winston Churchill


The most familiar precepts are not always the truest.

MARCEL PROUST

Within a Budding Grove

Tags: Marcel Proust


Call it what you want: relativism, constructivism, deconstruction, postmodernism, critique. The idea is the same: Truth is not found, but made, and making truth means exercising power.

CASEY WILLIAMS

"Creating Truth is Assertion of Power", Asharq Al-Awsat, April 19, 2017


Truth shall fear no open shame.

ANNE BOLEYN

attributed, Day's Collacon


Truth makes all things plain.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Tags: William Shakespeare


The investigation of the truth is in one way hard, in another easy. An indication of this is found in the fact that no one is able to attain the truth adequately, while, on the other hand, no one fails entirely, but everyone says something true about the nature of all things, and while individually they contribute little or nothing to the truth, by the union of all a considerable amount is amassed.

ARISTOTLE

Metaphysics

Tags: Aristotle


The truth is dark under your eyelids.

CHARLES SIMIC

"Against Winter", Walking the Black Cat

Tags: Charles Simic