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“Come on, readers, give me one example of a question that religion has answered to everyone’s satisfaction—one example of a “truth” found in religion’s quest for truth.”
Jerry Coyne (born 1949) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Do both science and faith produce truth?" August 11, 2012
“In the end theologians are jealous of science, for they are aware that it has greater authority than do their own ways of finding “truth”: dogma, authority, and revelation. Science does find truth, faith does not.”
Jerry Coyne (born 1949) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: William Lane Craig defends his ridiculous claim that animals don’t suffer" February 9, 2013
“The truth is the truth, regardless of whether it fits your ideological biases.”
Jerry Coyne (born 1949) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In an article on race and medicine, New York Times does its best to ignore and denigrate race" December 11, 2017
“Isn’t science, as some maintain, based on a “faith” that it’s good to pursue the truth? Hardly. The notion that knowledge is better than ignorance is not a quasi-religious faith, but a preference: we prefer to know the truth because accepting what’s false doesn’t give us useful answers about the universe.”
Jerry Coyne (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bring your ignorance to the Holy Spirit, the great teacher, who by His precious truth will lead you into all truth.”
William Paton Mackay (1839–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If any of you ever go into the pulpit "simply upon the cold legs of custom," be very careful to take a manuscript with you. But if you go to speak to the assembly because your mind is full of the truth, and you long to impart that truth to them, for their sake and for God's sake, — then charge your mind with it, and speak with all the force you can give it, without any notes.”
Richard Salter Storrs (1821–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What I'm dealing with is so vast and great that it can't be called the truth. It's above the truth.”
Sun Ra (1914–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Sun Ra : Un noir dans le cosmos (2005) by Aurélien Tchiemessom
“A conscience that is only sluggish, may submit to truth when it happens to meet with it: but a conscience under the seductions of passion, will not submit to it without great difficulty, and will devise some pretext, some expedient, for resisting the voice of truth that openly rebukes it.”
Alexandre Vinet (1797–1847) said by 1847 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We do not dwell in the Palace of Truth. But, as was mentioned to me not long since, "There is a time coming when all things shall be found out." I am not so sanguine myself, believing that the well in which Truth is said to reside is really a bottomless pit.”
Oliver Heaviside (1850–1925) first seen 1893 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Electromagnetic Theory (1893) Vol. 1, p. 1.
“The primary aim of science is to find... new truth. The search is the more successful the more it is directed towards... truth for its own sake, regardless of... possible use or application. ...If everything given to us by research were to be taken away, civilization would collapse and we would stand naked, searching for caves again.”
Albert Szent-Györgyi (1893–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When we have not the strength or the courage to grasp a new truth, we persuade ourselves that it is not a truth at all.”
John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not worth while to consider whether a truth be useful—it is enough that it is a truth.”
John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no truth which cannot be given in fifty words; the truth is always concise.”
Barry N. Malzberg (1939–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whereas the intelligence of God is both the cause and the measure of the truth of things, things are both the cause and the measure of the truth of our intelligence.”
Jacques Maritain (1882–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Journalists can help people by telling the truth, or by as much truth as they can find, and acting not as agents of governments, of power, but of people. That is real journalism. The rest is specious and false.”
John Pilger (1939–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“WikiLeaks is possibly the most exciting development in journalism in my lifetime... The truth about the Vietnam War was told when Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers. The truth about Iraq and Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia and many other flashpoints was told when WikiLeaks published the revelations of whistle-blowers.”
John Pilger (1939–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We hear you, Father,” he said surprisingly. “Yet we sense that though what you say is the truth, it is not the whole truth.”
James Blish (1921–1975) said by 1975 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In matters concerning truth and justice there can be no distinction between big problems and small; for the general principles which determine the conduct of men are indivisible. Whoever is careless with truth in small matters cannot be trusted in important affairs.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (1955) as quoted in Albert Einstein: Historical and Cultural Perspectives (1997) ed. , , p. 388, from The Centennial Symposium in Jerusalem (1979)
“Jack: That, my dear Algy, is the whole truth pure and simple. Algernon: The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Death is a state of non-being. That which is not, does not exist. Therefore death does not exist. Only truth exists. Truth and beauty. Each is interchangeable, but are aspects of themselves. Er, what specifically did they say they had in mind for me?”
Woody Allen (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not truth that makes man great, but man that makes truth great.”
Confucius (551–479 BC) said by 479 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Importance of Living (1937) by Lin Yutang, p. v
“I remember—the interruption of the hon. Gentleman reminds me of the words of a great writer, who said that "Grace was beauty in action." Sir, I say that justice is truth in action. Truth should animate an opposition, and I hope it does animate this opposition.;”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) first seen 1851 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (2 February 1851)
“The Religion that is afraid of science dishonours God and commits suicide. It acknowledges that it is not equal to the whole of truth, that it legislates, tyrannizes over a village of God's empires but is not the immutable universal law. Every influx of atheism, of skepticism is thus made useful as a mercury pill assaulting and removing a diseased religion and making way for truth.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) first seen 1831 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: March 4, 1831
“The soul active sees absolute truth; and utters truth, or creates.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A critic never made or killed a book or a play. The people themselves are the final judges. It is their opinion that counts. After all, the final test is truth. But the trouble is that most writers regard truth as their most valuable possession and therefore are most economical in its use.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to portrait painter Samuel Johnson Woolf, cited in Here am I (1941), Samuel Johnson Woolf; this has often been abbreviated: Most writers regard truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are most econom…
“Where there is a lull of truth, an institution springs up. But the truth blows right on over it, nevertheless, and at length blows it down.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) said by 1862 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Vedas contain a sensible account of God." "The veneration in which the Vedas are held is itself a remarkable feat. Their code embraced the whole moral life of the Hindus and in such a case there is no other truth than sincerity. Truth is such by reference to the heart of man within, not to any standard without.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) said by 1862 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Tribute to Hinduism (2008)
“The majority of men prefer delusion to truth. It soothes. It is easy to grasp. Above all, it fits more snugly than the truth into a universe of false appearances—of complex and irrational phenomena, defectively grasped.”
H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Two sorts of truth: profound truths recognized by the fact that the opposite is also a profound truth, in contrast to trivialities where opposites are obviously absurd.”
Niels Bohr (1885–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by his son Hans Bohr in "My Father", published in Niels Bohr: His Life and Work (1967), p. 328
“All of humanity is in peril of extinction if each one of us does not dare, now and henceforth, always to tell only the truth, and all the truth, and to do so promptly — right now.”
Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Relying on words to lead you to the truth is like relying on an incomplete formal system to lead you to the truth. A formal system will give you some truths, but as we shall soon see, a formal system, no matter how powerful—cannot lead to all truths.”
Douglas Hofstadter (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Q. You do not consider your statement a disloyal one? A. No, sir. Scientific truth is beyond loyalty and disloyalty. Q. You are sure that your statement represents scientific truth? A. I am.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What is the truth? you might ask, if I was giving you a chance to speak, which at the moment I am not. My answer to you would be that the truth is a fog, in which one man sees the heavenly host and the other one sees a flying elephant.”
Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Gravity is not a version of the truth. It is the truth. Anybody who doubts it is invited to jump out of a tenth-floor window.”
Richard Dawkins (born 1941) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (2008)
“Living organisms had existed on earth, without ever knowing why, for over three thousand million years before the truth finally dawned on one of them. His name was Charles Darwin. To be fair, others had had inklings of the truth, but it was Darwin who first put together a coherent and tenable account of why we exist.”
Richard Dawkins (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Briefly, you can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it.”
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) first seen 1905 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In The Daily News (25 February 1905)
“Thus truth was multiplied on truth, the world Like one great garden show'd, And thro' the wreaths of floating dark up-curl'd, Rare sunrise flow'dAnd Freedom rear'd in that august sunrise Her beautiful bold brow, When rites and forms before his burning eyes Melted like snow.”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Falsehood and delusion are allowed in no case whatever: But, as in the exercise of all the virtues, there is an œconomy of truth. It is a sort of temperance, by which a man speaks truth with measure that he may speak it the longer.”
Edmund Burke (1729–1797) said by 1797 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“seeker of truth follow no path all paths lead where truth is here”
E. E. Cummings (1894–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To convince someone of the truth, it is not enough to state it, but rather one must find the path from error to truth.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The heavens and earth stay as they were; my heart Beats as it beat: the truth remains the truth.”
Robert Browning (1812–1889) said by 1889 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Prayer is the spirit speaking truth to Truth.”
Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Impure means result in an impure end... One cannot reach truth by untruthfulness. Truthful conduct alone can reach Truth.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Harijan (13 July 1947) p. 232
“For me, reason is the natural organ of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning. Imagination, producing new metaphors or revivifying old, is not the cause of truth, but its condition.”
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bluspels and Flalansferes: A Semantic Nightmare", in Rehabilitations and Other Essays (1939)
“Though Truth and Falsehood be Near twins, yet Truth a little elder is.”
John Donne (1572–1631) said by 1631 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong. The numinosum is dangerous because it lures men to extremes, so that a modest truth is regarded as the truth and a minor mistake is equated with fatal error.”
Carl Jung (1875–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I must speak the truth, and nothing but the truth.”
Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) said by 1616 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Feeling does not succeed in converting consolation into truth, nor does reason succeed in converting truth into consolation.”
Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections and the truth of imagination — what the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth — whether it existed before or not.”
John Keats (1795–1821) first seen 1817 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Benjamin Bailey (November 22, 1817)
“Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral! When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty," — that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
John Keats (1795–1821) said by 1821 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source