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Truth

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“In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State.”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Observer (29 December 1974)
“Hey girl I want you to know I'm gonna miss you so much if you go. And hey girl I tell you no lie, Something deep inside of me's going to die If you say so long, if this is goodbye.”
Carole King (born 1942) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hey Girl (1963), Co-written with Freddie Scott and Gerry Goffin, recorded by Freddie Scott and Donny Osmond
“It is mistaken law that leads you to sacrifice. Life, woman, life is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it. I beg you, woman, prevail upon your husband to confess. Let him give his lie. Quail not before God's judgment in this, for it may well be God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride.”
Arthur Miller (1915–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the blood of Eden, Lie the woman and the man. With the man in the woman, And the woman in the man.”
Peter Gabriel (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's a paradox, isn't it? Dictators lie about everything they have done, but often they tell us exactly what they're going to do. Just listen. Anyone who is surprised at Putin's war crimes in Ukraine must not be aware about his long record, beginning with the Second Chechen War in Grozny more than two decades ago. Vladimir Putin has been a war criminal from the start.”
Garry Kasparov (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I hate the ugly, hate the old, I hate the lame and weak, But more than all I hate the dead That lie so still in their earthen bed And never dare to rise.”
Enoch Powell (1912–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, sweet it is, where grass is deep And swifts are overhead, To lie and watch the clouds, and weep For friends already dead.”
Enoch Powell (1912–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it,—but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809–1894) said by 1894 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Josephus Daniels, ambassador to Mexico, sent this quotation to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 1, 1936, in a note of New Year greetings, with this comment: "Here is an expression from Holmes which, if it has mi…
“Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809–1894) first seen 1858 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Not Burke but Oliver Wendell Holmes in The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858).
Also quoted by: Edmund Burke (misattributed), Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Self hosting email is like pounding needles into your eyes. You should never do that. Pay someone else to pound those needles so you can just lie back and enjoy it.”
Jamie Zawinski (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nature knows nothing but solid bodies; your science deals only with combinations of surfaces. And so nature constantly gives the lie to all your laws; can you name one to which no fact makes an exception?”
Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) said by 1850 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No recognition / Nadie se conoce' [Goya wrote on this plate no. 6:] The world is a masquerade, faces, costumes, voices, everything a lie. Each person wishes to appear what he is not. The whole world deceives itself, and no one recognizes himself.”
Francisco Goya (1746–1828) said by 1828 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: as quoted in Francisco Goya, Hugh Stokes, Herbert Jenkins Limited Publishers, London, 1914, pp. 355-377
“I may be biased, but I tend to find a much lower tendency among female programmers to be dishonest about their skills, and thus do not say they know C++ when they are smart enough to realize that that would be a lie for all but perhaps 5 people on this planet.”
Erik Naggum (1965–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.”
Saint Patrick (385–461) said by 461 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The buzzard told the monkey "You're chokin' me Release your hold and I'll set you free" The monkey looked the buzzard right dead in the eye and said "Your story's touching but it sounds like a lie.”
Nat King Cole (1919–1965) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Straighten Up And Fly Right" (1937) written with Irving Mills.
“The kindly individual believes that all people are kindly and act accordingly. The plague individual believes that all people lie, swindle, steal and crave power. Clearly, then, the living is at a disadvantage and in danger.”
Wilhelm Reich (1897–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But thou shalt ever lie dead, nor shall there be any remembrance of thee then or thereafter, for thou hast not of the roses of Pieria; but thou shalt wander obscure even in the house of Hades, flitting among the shadowy dead.”
Sappho (651–570 BC) said by 570 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fr. 55 Voigt (tr. H. T. Wharton, 1887)
“There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman without desire.”
Harper Lee (1926–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To love oneself is to struggle to rediscover and maintain your uniqueness. It is understanding and appreciating the idea that you will be the only you to ever live upon this earth, that when you die so will all of your fantastic possibilities. It is the realization that even you are not totally aware of the wonders which lie dormant within yourself.”
Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sergeant's widow told you a lie when she said I flogged her. I never flogged her. She flogged herself.”
Nikolai Gogol (1809–1852) said by 1852 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Like untuned golden strings all women are, Which long time lie untouch'd, will harshly jar. Vessels of brass, oft handled, brightly shine.”
Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593) said by 1593 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That's not a lie, it's a terminological inexactitude.”
Alexander Haig (1924–2010) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Defending himself against accusations of lying in 1983. Quoted by Rutledge, Leigh W., "Would I Lie To You?", Plume, 1998, , p. 81.
“They have kept us in submission because they have talked about separation of church and state. There is no such thing in the Constitution. It's a lie of the Left, and we're not going to take it anymore.”
Pat Robertson (1930–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In that temple of silence and reconciliation where the enmities of twenty generations lie buried, in the Great Abbey which has during many ages afforded a quiet resting-place to those whose minds and bodies have been shattered by the contentions of the Great Hall, the dust of the illustrious accused should have mingled with the dust of the illustrious accusers.”
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859) first seen 1841 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Warren Hastings', The Edinburgh Review (October 1841), quoted in T. B. Macaulay, Critical and Historical Essays Contributed to The Edinburgh Review, Vol. III (1843), p. 465
“A man who has never been within the tropics does not know what a thunderstorm means; a man who has never looked on Niagara has but a faint idea of a cataract; and he who has not read Barère's Memoirs may be said not to know what it is to lie.”
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859) first seen 1844 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Barère', The Edinburgh Review (April 1844), quoted in The Miscellaneous Writings of Lord Macaulay, Vol. II (1860), p. 109
“Every word she writes is a lie, including and and the.”
Mary McCarthy (1912–1989) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Comment about Lillian Hellman in a televised interview (1979) on The Dick Cavett Show; this prompted a defamation suit against McCarthy which was dropped after Hellman's death: "If someone had told me, don't say anythin…
“And when I lie in the green kirkyard, With the mould upon my breast, Say not that 'She did well — or ill,' Only, 'She did her best!'”
Dinah Craik (1826–1887) first seen 1865 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Christian's Mistake (Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1865), Ch. 7, p. 140
“There are worse things than a lie... I have found... that it may be well to choose one sin in order that another may be shunned.”
Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) first seen 1881 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Doctor Wortle's School (1881) Ch. 6
“The girl can look forward to little else than the chance of having a good man for her husband; — a good man, or if her tastes lie in that direction, a rich man.”
Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Segregation. There was another one. America sees this now but it took a civil rights movement to betray their age. And 50 years ago the U.S. Supreme Court betrayed the age May 17, 1954, Brown vs. Board of Education came down and put the lie to the idea that separate can ever really be equal. Amen to that.”
Bono (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The way forward does not lie in amateur and comically timeless linguistic sociology which takes ‘forms of life’ for granted (and this is what philosophy has been recently), but in the systematic study of forms of life which does not take them for granted at all. It hardly matters whether such an inquiry is called philosophy or sociology.”
Ernest Gellner (1925–1995) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The crisis in the humanities and in the mainstream of philosophy (1964), reprinted in The Devil in Modern Philosophy (1974)
“The FBI has been the worst enemy of Black advancement. “Can you prove that, Farrakhan?” Yes. See, the Jews have control over those agencies of government. This enemy: he is so angry with Farrakhan, that now if you like me you have to either hide it (or lie about it), especially if you want advancement in the White man’s world.”
Louis Farrakhan (born 1933) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When Jesus was nailed to the cross — and hung there in torment - he cried out — "God, my God! Why hast thou forsaken me?" He cried out as loud as he could. He thought that his heavenly father had abandoned him. He believed everything he'd ever preached was a lie. The moments before he died, Christ was seized by doubt. Surely that must have been his greatest hardship? God's silence.”
Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Algot Frövik (Allan Edwall) in Winter Light (1962)
“You're living in the real world now,” Spider said sadly. “It’s come from something. It’s going to something. Myths always lie in the most difficult places to ignore.”
Samuel R. Delany (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nevertheless, I still wonder. Each of us, with money, gets further and further away from those moments where the hand pulls the beet root from the soil, shakes the fish from the net into the basket—not to mention the way it separates us from one another, so that when enough money comes between people, they lie apart like parts of a chicken hacked up for stewing.”
Samuel R. Delany (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I had wanted to talk with you about lots of things.. .I am anxious to get to work for the fall – it is always my best time I had one particular painting – that tree in Lawrence's front yard as you see it when you lie under it on the table – with stars – it looks as tho it is standing on its head – I wanted you to see it..”
Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: letter to Mabel Dodge Luhan, Taos, August 1929; as quoted in Voicing our visions, – Writings by women artists, ed. Mara R. Witzling (New York: Universe Publishing/London: Women's Press, 1991), p. 226
“[pp 232-233] The message of the consumer society, pumped out over flat screens... is shrill and unrelenting: You are a failure. Pop culture celebrates those who wallow in power, wealth and self-obsession, and perpetuates the lie that if you work hard and are clever, you can become a "success."...”
Chris Hedges (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[p 308] The corporate state, however, is in trouble. It has no credibility. All the promises of the "free market," globalization and trickle-down economics have been exposed as a lie, an empty ideology used to satiate greed.”
Chris Hedges (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Once NATO expanded into Eastern Europe, the Clinton administration promised Moscow that NATO combat troops would not be stationed in Eastern Europe, the defining issue of the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act on Mutual Relations. This promise again turned out to be a lie.”
Chris Hedges (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've had some wonderful ideas for getting the dominating going. I've got some extremely subtle advertising slogans that should get the public behind us. Things like "Vote for EL Wisty and lovely nude ladies will come and dance with you." It's a complete lie, of course, but you can't afford to be too scrupulous if you're going to dominate the world.”
Peter Cook (1937–1995) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The World Domination League" (1964)
“The "styles" are a lie.”
Le Corbusier (1887–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lay a second foundation enough inside the first... Having laid these two foundations... build cross walls between them uniting the outer and inner foundation in a comb like arrangement set like teeth of a saw. With this form of construction the burden of earth will be distributed into small bodies and will not lie with all its weight in one crushing mass so as to thrust out substructures.”
Vitruvius (80–15 BC) said by 15 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's time to lie down and be counted.”
Mixmaster Morris (born 1965) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: various UK interviews, 1993.
“I'd rather lie down than jump up.”
Mixmaster Morris (born 1965) first seen 1994 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: i-D Magazine, 1994. Said in response to the musical style known as "jump up".
“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach — waiting for a gift from the sea.”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Right to repair has no cannier, more dedicated adversary than Apple, a company whose most innovative work is dreaming up new ways to sneakily sabotage electronics repair while claiming to be a caring environmental steward, a lie that covers up the mountains of e-waste that Apple dooms our descendants to wade through.”
Cory Doctorow (born 1971) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Apple fucked us on right to repair (again)", Pluralistic (22 September 2023)
“Brazil has rediscovered itself, and this rediscovery is being expressed in its people's enthusiasm and their desire to mobilize to face the huge problems that lie ahead of us.”
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (born 1945) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Dialogue with the President of Brazil on Global Governance' at the 'Annual Meeting 2003' of the World Economic Forum (January 26, 2003).
“A composite is a euphemism for a lie. It's disorderly. It's dishonest and it's not journalism.”
Fred W. Friendly (1915–1998) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 65, The interplay of influence: mass media and their publics in news, advertising, politics, Wadsworth series in mass communication, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, Edition 2, Wadsworth, 1988.
“What is too absurd to believe is believed because it is too absurd to be a lie.”
Robert Jordan (1948–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm a flawed character... I viewed this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times.”
Lance Armstrong (born 1971) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lance Armstrong Admits to Doping, 'One Big Lie', as reported in the Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2013.