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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

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Truth

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• “You are the oaken staff I lean on,” Taran said. “More than that.” He laughed. “You are the whole sturdy tree, and a true warrior.” Coll, instead of beaming, looked wryly at him. “Do you mean to honor me?” he asked. “Then say, rather, I am a true grower of turnips, and a gatherer of apples. No warrior whatever, save that I am needed thus for a while. My garden longs for me as much as I long for it.”

  Lloyd Alexander (1924–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “True emotions and sincere words never perish. The great heart of humanity gladly receives and embalms every true utterance of the humblest of its offspring.”

  Elias Lyman Magoon (1810–1886) said by 1886 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “It is more true to say that our opinions depend upon our lives and habits than to say that our lives depend upon our opinions, which is only now and then true.”

  Frederick William Robertson (1816–1853) said by 1853 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance.”

  Orville Wright (1871–1948) first seen 1908 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Letter to George A. Spratt (7 June 1908); as published in "Miracle at Kitty Hawk: Unpublished Letters of the Wright Brothers" by Fred C. Kelly, Part III, The Atlantic (July 1950)

• “The true confidence which is faith in Christ, and the true diffidence which is utter distrust of myself — are identical.”

  Alexander Maclaren (1826–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “A theory can never be proven absolutely true, therefore there is no end to scientific endeavor. A true scientific theory is always open to be disproved, and the burden of proof is continually placed on the scientist.”

  Kristine Larsen (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The greatness of God is the true rebuke to the littleness of men. The greatness of Christ is the true rebuke to the littleness of Christians.”

  Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “True compassion is not about giving or taking. True compassion is doing just what is needed.”

  Sadhguru (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “In my opinion, it helps enormously to know why something is true, rather than being told it is true, for why should you believe me? Never believe anything on the authority of a single person but seek confirmation — and reason is the best confirmation.”

  Dennis Lindley (1923–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “True freedom—with the power to make certain she didn’t ever have to be dependent upon anyone else, listener or spren. True freedom couldn’t exist while someone else had power over you.”

  Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The reason we believe in relativity today is not because we had a great transition in our beliefs about what should be so. We believe in relativity because we have no choice. It's true — measured to be true.”

  Robert B. Laughlin (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Let x represent an act of the mind by which we fix our regard upon that portion of time for which the proposition X is true ; and let this meaning be understood when it is asserted that x denote the time for which the proposition X is true. (. . .) We shall term x the representative symbol of the proposition X.”

  George Boole (1815–1864) said by 1864 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: p. 165; As cited in: James Joseph Sylvester, ‎James Whitbread Lee Glaisher (1910) The Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics. p. 350

• “Playing around is one thing; following an established regimen is quite another. It's true with exercise equipment and it is true with prayer.”

  Bill Hybels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Transforming leadership, [is defined as] leadership that builds on man's need for meaning, leadership that creates institutional purpose … he is the value-shaper, the exemplar, the maker of meanings … he is the true artist, the true pathfinder.”

  Tom Peters (born 1942) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: p. 82 as cited in: Amir Levy, Uri Merry (1986) Organizational Transformation: Approaches Strategies, and Theories. p. 52.

• “To whole room her eyes are numb, As she reads from a true love story. From the pages of a book her lover comes, Her heart bleeds, it's a true love story.”

  Mike Oldfield (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Let not thy peace depend on the tongues of men; for whether they judge well of thee or ill, thou art not on that account other than thyself. Where are true peace and true glory? Are they not in God?”

  Isabella Fyvie Mayo (1843–1914) first seen 1895 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Reported in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895) by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, p. 448.

• “They are people who believe in only one god, and then they believe that the god they worship is the only true one, and all others are false, and finally they believe that the only true god must be worshiped in only one way, and that those who worship otherwise are vile monsters who should be killed.”

  H. Beam Piper (1904–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Few know the joys that spring from a disinterested curiosity. It is like a cheerful spirit that leads us through worlds filled with what is true and fair, which we admire and love because it is true and fair.”

  John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Though what we accept be true, it is a prejudice unless we ourselves have considered and understood why and how it is true.”

  John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “No matter who you are, engaging in the quest to discover where and how things began tends to induce emotional fervor—as if knowing the beginning bestows upon you some form of fellowship with, or perhaps governance over, all that comes later. So what is true for life itself is no less true for the universe: knowing where you came from is no less important than knowing where you are going.”

  Neil deGrasse Tyson (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Greed redefined and corrupted what true power is. Domination is for the weak, Harmony is the true sign of strength.”

  Lupe Fiasco (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Yes, you’re right, I did kill her, I do remember. With a gun. She disrespected me.” He nodded. “One does what one has to do—I don’t blame myself. I was always true to my own conscience.” The last sentences had a rote sound, as if he’d said them many times. “Your conscience? You were always true to your, your narcissism.”

  Tim Powers (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Which perspective is true? he thought. Which do I want to be true?”

  Tim Powers (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The true artist has no style. Style is an exterior decorative element. The true artist as servant of his matter, transcends it with an absolute freedom.”

  Karel Appel (1921–2006) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: quote, 1984 - from ATV', 188; p. 49

• “Science seems to be at war with itself.... Naive realism leads to physics, and physics, if true, shows naive realism to be false. Therefore naive realism, if true, is false; therefore it is false.”

  Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth (1940), Introduction, p. 15

• “When a heretic wishes to avoid martyrdom he speaks of "Orthodoxy, True and False" and demonstrates that the True is his heresy.”

  George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “It is not the pleasure of curiosity, nor the quiet of resolution, nor the raising of the spirit, nor victory of wit, nor faculty of speech (…) that are the true ends of knowledge (…), but it is a restitution and reinvesting, in great part, of man to the sovereignty and power, for whensoever he shall be able to call the creatures by their true names, he shall again command them.”

  Francis Bacon (1561–1626) first seen 1603 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Valerius Terminus: Of the Interpretation of Nature (ca. 1603), in Works, Vol. I, p. 83; The Works of Francis Bacon (1819), Vol. 2, p. 133

• “In God We Trust." It is the choicest compliment that has ever been paid us, and the most gratifying to our feelings. It is simple, direct, gracefully phrased: it always sounds well — In God We Trust. I don't believe it would sound any better if it were true. And in a measure it is true — half the nation trusts in Him. That half has decided it.”

  Mark Twain (1835–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it is true because he gets pleasure out of it.”

  H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Damn! A Book of Calumny (1918), XL. The Root of Religion

• “Platitude — An idea (a) that is admitted to be true by everyone, and (b) that is not true.”

  H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “You, the sons of the pioneers, if you are true to your ancestry, must make your lives as worthy as they made theirs. They sought for true success, and therefore they did not seek ease. They knew that success comes only to those who lead the life of endeavor.”

  Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The true friend of property, the true conservative, is he who insists that property shall be the servant and not the master of the commonwealth; who insists that the creature of man's making shall be the servant and not the master of the man who made it. The citizens of the United States must effectively control the mighty commercial forces which they have called into being.”

  Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The true friend of property, the true conservative, is he who insists that property shall be the servant and not the master of the commonwealth; who insists that the creature of man's making shall be the servant and not the master of the man who made it. The citizens of the United States must effectively control the mighty commercial forces which they have themselves called into being.”

  Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “But it seemed so likely to him that on every world the earliest histories were medleys of self-serving heroisms and minidramas that were meant as morality plays and were not to be taken literally. It was surely true of Helicon, yet you would find scarcely a Heliconian who would not swear by all the tales told and insist it was all true history.”

  Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The beautiful exists just as little as the true. In every case it is a question of the conditions of preservation of a certain type of man: thus the herd-man will experience the value feeling of the true in different things than will the overman.”

  Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Sec. 804 (Notebook W II 2. Fall 1887, KGW VIII, 2.220-1, KSA 12.554-5)

• “I realize that lawyers are brought up (probably from small children) to think that "technically true" is what matters, but when you make public PR statements, they should be more than "technically" true. They should be honest. There's a big f*cking difference.”

  Linus Torvalds (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “They called themselves the Munrungs. It meant The People, or The True Human Beings. It's what most people call themselves, to begin with. And then one day the tribe meets some other People or, if it's not been a good day, The Enemy. If only they'd think up a name like Some More True Human Beings, it'd save a lot of trouble later on.”

  Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The popularity of the paranormal, oddly enough, might even be grounds for encouragement. I think that the appetite for mystery, the enthusiasm for that which we do not understand, is healthy and to be fostered. It is the same appetite which drives the best of true science, and it is an appetite which true science is best qualified to satisfy.”

  Richard Dawkins (born 1941) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Science Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder", John Brockman, Edge.org, December 29, 1996

• “Admittedly, people of a theological bent are often chronically incapable of distinguishing what is true from what they'd like to be true. (p. 135 of the Black Swan paperback edition of 2007)”

  Richard Dawkins (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Suggest always put Islamic "scholar" in quotes, to avoid insulting true scholars. True scholars have read more than one book.”

  Richard Dawkins (born 1941) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: (25 July 2014)

• “I see Hermes, unsuspected, dying, well-beloved, saying to the people, "Do not weep for me, This is not my true country, I have lived banished from my true country—I now go back there, I return to the celestial sphere where every one goes in his turn.”

  Walt Whitman (1819–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Rich in saving common-sense, And, as the greatest only are, In his simplicity sublime. O good gray head which all men knew, O voice from which their omens all men drew, O iron nerve to true occasion true, O fallen at length that tower of strength Which stood four-square to all the winds that blew!”

  Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Dr. King had awakened something strong and true, a sense that true justice must be colorblind, and that among white and black Americans, as he put it, "Their destiny is tied up with our destiny, and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom; we cannot walk alone.”

  Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “If the true is what is grounded, then the ground is not true, nor yet false.”

  Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “We will not praise Mahomet's moral precepts as always of the superfinest sort; yet it can be said that there is always a tendency to good in them; that they are the true dictates of a heart aiming towards what is just and true.”

  Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Style is indeed the valet of genius, and an able one too; but as the true gentleman will appear, even in rags, so true genius will shine, even through the coarsest style.”

  Charles Caleb Colton (1777–1832) said by 1832 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “As in literature we shall find many things that are true, and some things that are new, but very few things that are both true and new, so also in life, we shall find many men that are great, and some men that are good, but very few men that are both great and good.”

  Charles Caleb Colton (1777–1832) said by 1832 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “There's no one thing that's true. It's all true.”

  Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “And swear No where Lives a woman true and fair. If thou find'st one, let me know, Such a pilgrimage were sweet; Yet do not, I would not go, Though at next door we might meet, Though she were true, when you met her, And last, till you write your letter, Yet she Will be False, ere I come, to two, or three.”

  John Donne (1572–1631) said by 1631 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Man is but earth; ’Tis true; but earth is the centre. That man who dwells upon himself, who is always conversant in himself, rests in his true centre.”

  John Donne (1572–1631) first seen 1627 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: No. 5, preached on Christmas Day 1627

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