Famous quotes

Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide

English Italiano Polski עברית Français Português فارسی Español 中文 Русский Deutsch العربية हिन्दी 日本語 Ελληνικά Latina

Truth

Love Friendship Happiness Hope Fear Courage Death Life Time War Peace Freedom Truth Wisdom Knowledge Science Art Music Nature Money Work Power God Beauty Laughter Family Success and failure Change Dreams Books and reading

“I am the truth-teller. I tried never to be mean, but Simon did tell me at one point. 'Doug, if you tell the truth, you don't have a choice.'”
Doug Hall (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The seeing of Truth cannot be dualistic (a 'thing' seen). It cannot be seen by a see-er, or via a see-er. There can only be a seeing which itself is Truth.”
Wei Wu Wei (1895–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth is one, but error proliferates. Man tracks it down and cuts it up into little pieces hoping to turn it into grains of truth. But the ultimate atom will always essentially be an error, a miscalculation.”
René Daumal (1908–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But O the truth, the truth! the many eyes That look on it! the diverse things they see!”
George Meredith (1828–1909) first seen 1883 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Ballad of Fair Ladies in Revolt st. 16 (1883)
“God is truth. All who seek truth seek God, whether this is clear to them or not.”
Edith Stein (1891–1942) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Sr. Adelgundis Jaegerschmid, 23 March 1938
“You done opened my eyes, and I reckon I can go and open some other folks’ eyes my own self. You got yourself a—what’s the Bible word?—A disciple, that’s what it is.” “Good luck to you, Mr. Blackford,” Lincoln said. “Be the truth’s disciple, not mine. Follow the truth, wherever it may lead you.”
Harry Turtledove (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I absolutely reject the accusation that the Soviet leadership intentionally held back the truth about Chernobyl. We simply did not know the whole truth yet.”
Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My goal as an actor is always to be as truthful as possible, and to find the truth in the material I am representing. So I think that it’s the same with performing music. But in a way, performing your own music, it’s easier to find the truth in it, because it’s coming from yourself. There’s no translation needed.”
Zooey Deschanel (born 1980) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "On Record : Zooey Deschanel of She & Him" at American Songwriter (18 March 2010).
“Fear ye God that ye may not identify yourselves with aught but the truth, inasmuch as ye have been exalted in the Bayán for being recognized as the bearers of the name of Him Who is the eternal Truth.”
Báb (1819–1850) said by 1850 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth — and truth rewarded me.”
Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: All Said and Done (1972), p. 16
“2084. He that does not speak Truth to me, does not believe me when I speak Truth.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The hypocrite may serve, among other things, as a deformed ambassador of the truth. By so obviously misrepresenting the truth, he enables us to trace its smothered outlines.”
James Wood (critic) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Golovlyov Family by Shchedrin in Edwin Frank (ed.), Unknown Masterpieces (2003), p. 109
“Mind and spirit together make up that which separates us from the rest of the animal world, that which enables a man to know the truth, and that which enables him to die for the truth.”
Edith Hamilton (1867–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is the human condition to question one god after another, one appearance after another, or better, one apparition after another, always pursuing the truth of the imagination, which is not the same as the truth of appearance.”
Émile Chartier (1868–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People make a grievous error thinking that a list of facts is the truth. Facts are just the bare bones out of which truth is made.”
Shelby Foote (1916–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But I shall let the little I have learnt go forth into the day in order that someone better than I may guess the truth, and in his work may prove and rebuke my error. At this I shall rejoice that I was yet a means whereby this truth has come to light.”
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) said by 1528 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The opening quotation of Introduction, Conjectures and refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge by Karl Popper (1963).
“Even in earliest youth my fondest desire was to understand Nature, and thus to come closer to the truth; a truth that I was unable to discover either at school or in church.”
Viktor Schauberger (1885–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Jane Cobbald, Viktor Schauberger: A Life of Learning from Nature (2016)
“There is room enough for a natural 'painture'. The great vice of the present day is bravura, an attempt to do something beyond the truth. In endeavouring to do something better than well, they do what in reality is good for nothing. Fashion always had, & will have, its day — but truth (in all things) only will last, and can only have just claims on posterity.”
John Constable (1776–1837) first seen 1802 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to John Dunthorne (29 May 1802), from John Constable's Correspondence, part 2, pp. 31-32
“There is no such thing as truth. The only thing that is actually there is your "logically" ascertained premise, which you call "truth".”
U. G. Krishnamurti (1918–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth is the daughter of God, and in all her attributes God-like and eternal. Truth never depreciates in value”
Benjamin Fish Austin (1850–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every word of Truth proceeds from God, whether that Truth be written in the rocks and read by the geologist or written in the heavens and read by the astronomer or written in the heart of man or written in this old book”
Benjamin Fish Austin (1850–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why should inspiration be limited to one past age? If Truth came to Paul 1900 years ago it can come to you today. After all, Heaven is as near to-day, God is as loving and as kind to-day, and truth as abundant to-day, as in the ages when men are said to have possessed inspiration.”
Benjamin Fish Austin (1850–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth does not need to borrow garments from error. (Also translated as: Truth does not need to borrow garments from falsehood.)”
José Rizal (1861–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth, I have learned, differs for everybody. Just as no two people ever see a rainbow in exactly the same place—and yet both most certainly see it, while the person seemingly standing right underneath it does not see it at all—so truth is a question of where one stands, and the direction one is looking in at the time.”
Iain Banks (1954–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The truth is the truth. You tell it even when it hurts or it loses value even when it doesn’t.”
Iain Banks (1954–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whenever there is an absolute truth at stake, the manners become careless. This applies both to the owners as well as their opponents of that truth and to all people involved.”
Paul Schnabel (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As for the Bible, it was a book, and all books told the truth in the sense that their authors believed they were writing a kind of truth.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why do you so earnestly seek the truth in distant places? Look for delusion and truth in the bottom of your own hearts.”
Ryōkan (1758–1831) said by 1831 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I lived the war in Iraq, and today I still have family and friends fighting in Iraq. My support for our troops is unwavering. I believe this is not a time for finger-pointing, it is a time for truth — the whole truth— vs. hype, and misinformation.”
Jessica Lynch (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The truth is the light and light is the truth.”
Ralph Ellison (1914–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And he continued to travesty the truth, and I was impotent — the truth, that profound thing whose voice was in my ears, whose shadow was in my eyes, and whose taste was in my mouth. Was I so utterly forsaken? Would no one speak the word I was in search of?”
Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The truth is revolutionary," gasps the nocturnal voice; "get you gone, you men of truth, you who cast disorder among ignorance, you who strew words and sow the wind; you contrivers, begone! You bring in the reign of men! But the multitude hates you and mocks you!”
Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth will do well enough if left to shift for herself. She seldom has received much aid from the power of great men to whom she is rarely known & seldom welcome. She has no need of force to procure entrance into the minds of men. Error indeed has often prevailed by the assistance of power or force. Truth is the proper & sufficient antagonist to error.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) first seen 1776 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Notes on Religion (October 1776), published in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson : 1816–1826 (1899) edited by Paul Leicester Ford, v. 2, p. 102
“Truth alone ultimately triumphs and survives. Untruth and swindling prosper like fire in loose grass but this prosperity is only short-lived. Truth prevails slowly but steadily like fire in a huge log of wood and it is not easily extinguished. Human life is very precious but it is very precarious, too. Death is inevitable.”
Swami Narayanananda (1902–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A house built on granite and strong foundations, not even the onslaught of pouring rain, gushing torrents and strong winds will be able to pull down. Some people have written the story of my life representing as truth what in fact derives from ignorance, error or envy; but they cannot shake the truth from its place, even if they attempt to make others believe it.”
Haile Selassie (1892–1975) said by 1975 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. the truth is WWE Universe loves John Morrison”
John Hennigan (born 1979) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: http://www.wwe.com/content/media/video/vms/judgmentday/2009/may15-21/10229280
“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”
Jesus (6 BC–33) said by 33 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”
Jesus (6 BC–33) said by 33 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One may call the world a myth, in which bodies and things are visible, but souls and minds hidden. Besides, to wish to teach the whole truth about the Gods to all produces contempt in the foolish, because they cannot understand, and lack of zeal in the good, whereas to conceal the truth by myths prevents the contempt of the foolish, and compels the good to practice philosophy.”
Sallustius (400–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A scientist can be tactful and PC with his mouth, but not his ears or eyes and certainly not his mind. Truth must reign there above all. For your first allegiance is either to Truth or to Ignorance. Worry about offending, and you are choosing Ignorance.”
Patri Friedman (born 1976) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Live according to the one and only truth and surrender to the trend of truth.”
Elia M. Ramollah (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The logical axioms are the principle of all truth. These posit an existence towards which all cognition serves. Logic is a law which must be obeyed, and man realises himself only in so far as he is logical. He finds himself in cognition. All error must be felt to be crime. And so man must not err. He must find the truth.”
Otto Weininger (1880–1903) said by 1903 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Poetry, we might say, is concerned with the truth of what is, not with what is truth.”
Herbert Read (1893–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the face of the idea that truth might afford the opposite of satisfaction and turn out to be completely shocking to humanity at any given historical moment, … the fathers of pragmatism made the satisfaction of the subject the criterion of truth. For such a doctrine there is no possibility of rejecting or even criticizing any species of belief that is enjoyed by its adherents.”
Max Horkheimer (1895–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And the pursuit whose quest is Nature's understanding, has this among its rewards, that as it progresses its truth is testable. Truth is a 'value'. The quest itself is therefore in a measure its own satisfaction. We receive the lesson that our advance to knowledge is of asymptotic type, even as continually approaching so continually without arrival. The satisfaction shall therefore be eternal.”
Charles Scott Sherrington (1857–1952) first seen 1951 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch. 12: "Conflict with Nature", p. 400. In 2nd edition (1951), Ch. 12 titled "Altruism
“The search for truth is often costly, for truth comes at a price”
Siddharth Katragadda (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no depth of life without a way to depth, no truth without a way to truth.”
Ruth Nanda Anshen (1900–2003) first seen 1994 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Mystery of Consciousness: A Prescription for Human Survival, pg. 108 (1994)
“To speak a truth that belongs to another is untruth, for speaking belongs to living, hence to speak another’s truth is to live a life that is not one’s own.”
David L. Norton (1930–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If Descartes’ main aspirations are directed towards a “first truth,” it follows necessarily that the sphere of pure possibilities, and with it the sphere of “probability,” is excluded from philosophy. Thus Descartes ignores, for example, both the art of rhetoric and history, as fields in which “the probable,” rather than the truth prevails.”
Ernesto Grassi (1902–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All of us live by the employment of countless untested assumptions, the truth or falsehood of which we can determine only through the hazard of our lives. Since most of us value our lives more than the truth, we leave such drastic tests for the fanatics.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source