Famous quotes
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Truth
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“Every Gag I tell must be based on truth. No matter how much I may exaggerate it, it must have a certain amount of Truth. ... Now Rumor travels Faster, but it don't stay put as long as Truth.”
Will Rogers (1879–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Error is the force that welds men together; truth is communicated to men only by deeds of truth. Only deeds of truth, by introducing light into the conscience of each individual, can dissolve the cohesion of error, and detach men one by one from the mass united together by the cohesion of error.”
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) first seen 1884 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My Religion (1884), Ch. 12
“Truth is ... one approach to the attainment of the good, but in and of itself, it is neither the good nor the beautiful ... Socrates, Pascal, and others regarded knowledge of the truth with regard to purposeless objects as incongruous with the good ... [by] exposing deception, truth destroys illusion, which is the principle attribute of beauty.”
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm sick and tired of hearing things fromUptight short sided narrow minded hypocritesAll I want is the truth, just give me some truthI've had enough of reading thingsBy neurotic psychotic pigheaded politiciansAll I want is the truth, just give me some truth”
John Lennon (1940–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self sustained.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) first seen 1285 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Young India 1924-1926 (1927), p. 1285
“Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time. I must continue to bear testimony to truth even if I am forsaken by all. Mine may today be a voice in the wilderness, but it will be heard when all other voices are silenced, if it is the voice of Truth.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) said by 1948 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Basic Education (1951) p. 89
“History is in a manner a sacred thing, so far as it contains truth; for where truth is, the supreme Father of it may also be said to be, at least, inasmuch as concerns truth.”
Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) said by 1616 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The pursuit of truth is chimerical. That is why it is so hard to say what truth is. There is no permanent absolute unchangeable truth; what we should pursue is the most convenient arrangement of our ideas.”
Samuel Butler (novelist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What is the Truth? was askt of yore. Reply all object Truth is one As twain of halves aye makes a whole; the moral Truth for all is none.”
Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890) said by 1890 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Cuomo]: It's just the truth, we're just telling them the truth, is that racism continues, it's systemic, it's in everything around us, but you have to be taught where it is everywhere because that's how we remedy it. And otherwise, you're just hiding from the truth." [Maher]: That’s nuts, it’s just silly, it’s just virtue signaling.”
Bill Maher (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To me, the truth is what actually happened. Yet it is impossible to know anything approaching the whole truth about past events. Even the people living them could not possibly understand. That truth is always out of reach.”
Orson Scott Card (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is but one indefectibly certain truth, and that is the truth that pyrrhonistic scepticism itself leaves standing, — the truth that the present phenomenon of consciousness exists.”
William James (1842–1910) first seen 1897 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Will to Believe (1897)
“A great truth is a truth whose opposite is also a truth.”
Thomas Mann (1875–1955) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Essay on Freud (16 May 1929)
“To sum up all these steps, each of which is very lengthy and complex, we will have put the game of truth back in the network of constraints and dominations. Truth, I should say rather, the system of truth and falsity, will have revealed the face it turned away from us for so long and which is that of its violence.”
Michel Foucault (1926–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Parrhesia... in its extreme form... takes place in the "game" of life or death. ...[Y]ou risk death to tell the truth instead of reposing in the security of a life where... truth goes unspoken. ...[H]e prefers himself as... truth-teller rather than... living... false to himself”
Michel Foucault (1926–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An aphorism can never be the whole truth; it is either a half-truth or a truth-and-a-half.”
Karl Kraus (writer) first seen 1909 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Die Fackel no. 270/71 (19 January 1909)
“Beauty, the splendour of truth, is a gracious presence when the imagination contemplates intensely the truth of its own being or the visible world, and the spirit which proceeds out of truth and beauty is the holy spirit of joy. These are realities and these alone give and sustain life.”
James Joyce (1882–1941) first seen 1902 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: James Clarence Mangan" (1902)
“Anyone who feels the urge to undertake such a task must dedicate himself for his labors as he would prepare for a pilgrimage to distant lands. He must spare no time or effort, fear no earthly power or rank, and rise above his own vanity or false modesty in order to tell, in accordance with the expression of the Code Napoléon, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831) said by 1831 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody’s property; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of all souls.”
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fear of falling a prey to error must never prevent us from getting to the full truth. To overstep the limit, to go beyond, would be to err through excessive daring; but there are also errors of timidity which consist precisely in stopping short, never daring to go any further than half-truths.Love of truth never goes without daring. And that is one of the reasons why truth is not loved.”
Henri de Lubac (1896–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.”
Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Encyclical Fides et Ratio, 14 September 1998
“The old joke about the two main Soviet papers, Pravda (“Truth”) and Izvestia (“News”), was “There’s no news in the Truth and no truth in the News!”
Garry Kasparov (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This sentence makes me hesitate. I contend to be a fighter for pureness and truth. I hesitate, because I am afraid of you and your attitude towards truth. To say the truth about you is dangerous to life.”
Wilhelm Reich (1897–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Scientists who have thought that they were seeking Truth, but who were trying to find out astronomic, or chemic, or biologic truths. But Truth is that besides which there is nothing: nothing to modify it, nothing to question it, nothing to form an exception: the all-inclusive, the complete--By Truth I mean the Universal.”
Charles Fort (1874–1932) said by 1932 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You cannot find one synagogue I desecrated. You cannot find one Jewish person I have harmed, except I refuse to be silent when I know the truth. And it was Jesus who said you shall know the truth and the truth will set us free.”
Louis Farrakhan (born 1933) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Farrakhan speaks in Birmingham to support Voting Rights Act (14 June 2013)
“The search for truth is never over and the survival of truth is never assured. We have to choose - do we stand with those who wish to suppress the truth or stand with those who seek it.”
Morgan Freeman (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I can't help believing that these things that come from the subconscious mind have a sort of truth to them. It may not be a scientific truth, but it's psychological truth.”
Brian Aldiss (1925–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth is absolute, truth is supreme, truth is never disposable in national political life.”
John Howard (born 1939) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: ABC Radio "AM" (25 August 1995)
“Took a picture of the truth and tried to develop it Had proof, but it was only recognized by the intelligent Took the negative and positive, cause niggas got to live Said I got to get more than I'm given Cause truth'll never be heard in religion After searching the world, on the inside what was hidden?It was the truth”
Common (rapper) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Truth", Pharoahe Monch Internal Affairs (1999)
“Truth is the object of Knowledge of whatever kind; and when we inquire what is meant by Truth, I suppose it is right to answer that Truth means facts and their relations, which stand towards each other pretty much as subjects and predicates in logic.”
John Henry Newman (1801–1890) said by 1890 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Verily we know nothing. Truth is buried deep. (Another translation: "Of truth we know nothing, for truth is in a well." Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers R.D. Hicks, Ed.)”
Democritus (461–361 BC) said by 361 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But the real truth is that there never is any such thing as one truth to be found in dramatic art. There are many. These truths challenge each other, recoil from each other, reflect each other, ignore each other, tease each other, are blind to each other. Sometimes you feel you have the truth of a moment in your hand, then it slips through your fingers and is lost.”
Harold Pinter (1930–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The need of reason is not inspired by the quest for truth but by the quest for meaning. And truth and meaning are not the same. The basic fallacy, taking precedence over all specific metaphysical fallacies, is to interpret meaning on the model of truth.”
Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) said by 1975 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those who think the information brought out at a criminal trial is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth are fools. Prosecuting or defending a case is nothing more than getting to those people who will talk for your side, who will say what you want said.”
F. Lee Bailey (1933–2021) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: New York Times, 20 September 1970.
“The Logic of Induction is the 'Criterion of Truth' inferred from Facts, as the Logic of Deduction is the 'Criterion of Truth' deduced from necessary Principle. In Art, Truth is a means to an end; in Science, it is the only end.”
William Whewell (1794–1866) said by 1866 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No human being is constituted to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; and even the best of men must be content with fragments, with partial glimpses, never the full fruition.”
William Osler (1849–1919) first seen 1905 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Student Life" in The Medical News (30 September 1905)
“We must not think, "Well, we have all the truth, we understand the main pillars of our faith, and we may rest on this knowledge." The truth is an advancing truth, and we must walk in the increasing light.”
Ellen G. White (1827–1915) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Review and Herald (27 March 1890); also in Counsels for Writers and Editors (1946), p. 33; also in Evangelism (1946), p. 296; also in 1888 - The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials (1987), Ch. 64, p. 547.
“Sir Impey Biggs: Lawyers enjoy a little mystery, you know. Why, if everybody came forward and told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth straight out, we should all retire to the workhouse.”
Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To know the Truth, to love the Truth, and to live the Truth is the whole duty of man.”
Benjamin Fish Austin (1850–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth is so large OR people’s minds are so small that they’re only able to nibble on the edges – and when growth brings them to the area where they can feed on truth itself, as they move in and eat of the seed, there they become truth.”
Eugene J. Martin (1938–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Cling to truth and it turns into falsehood. Understand falsehood and it turns into truth. Truth and falsehood are two sides of the same coin. Neither accept one nor reject the other.”
Ryōkan (1758–1831) said by 1831 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As translated in 1,001 Pearls of Wisdom (2006) by David Ross, p. 36
“My hero is every American who says "My country needs me" and answers that call to fight. I had the good fortune and opportunity to come home and to tell the truth; many soldiers, like Pat Tillman... did not have that opportunity. The truth of war is not always easy. The truth is always more heroic than the hype.”
Jessica Lynch (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth is simple. They who say that truth is complicated deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them.”
Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life is short, short, brother! Ain't it the truth? And there is no other Ain't it the truth? You gotta rock that rainbow while you still got your youth! Oh! Ain't it the solid truth?”
Yip Harburg (1896–1981) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ain't It the Truth" originally written for Cabin in the Sky (1943), but pulled from the show, and later included in Jamaica (1957) - Lena Horne version
“The spirit of truth says, “Remember.” And you will, if you accept the spirit of truth, allow the spirit of truth to be your expression.”
Martin Cecil, 7th Marquess of Exeter (1909–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Thus It Is, 1989, p. 164
“Tagore once said– art has to be beautiful, but, before that, it has to be truthful. Now, what is truth? There is no eternal truth. Every artist has to learn private truth though a painful private process. And that is what he has to convey.”
Ritwik Ghatak (1925–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One of the flabby lines you hear sometimes is, 'Speak truth to power'. Power knows the truth. It's speaking the truth to yourself that's the challenge.”
Barry Sanders (professor) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Oregon Live Saturday, April 16, 2011
“I was in that ultimate moment of terror that is the beginning of life. It is nothing. Simple, hideous nothing. The final truth of all things is that there is no final Truth. Truth is what's transitory. It's human life that is real.”
Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth leads one to glory now and forever. In this world truth and falsehood are found confusedly mixed yet it is truth alone that triumphs here and hereafter.”
“One of the ironies of modern religion is that the absolute commitment to truth in some forms of evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity and the concomitant view that truth is objective and can be verified by any impartial observer have led many faithful souls to follow the truth wherever it leads— and where it leads is often away from evangelical or fundamentalist Christianity.”
Bart D. Ehrman (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source