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Truth

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“When what I believe is the truth, I must act on it. But, I consider that you have every right to think what you think is the truth. I pay a price for adhering to my truth. I pay and do it cheerfully.”
Morarji Desai (1896–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The great error of traditional proofs of the existence of god is that they try to take a symbolic truth for a literal truth, a truth of fact, and then try to prove that it is a fact.”
Walter Terence Stace (1886–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” “What is truth?” retorted Pilate.”
Pontius Pilate (born 12 BC) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The masters in all ages have put men like Debs in jail because it is the truth-teller that the masters fear most. They fear the Truth; they fear the Light; they fear Justice; and the man who turns on the Light and speaks the Truth and cries out for Justice—is their greatest enemy. So they have always tried this process of putting ideas into jail.”
Scott Nearing (1883–1983) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Debs Decision (1919)
“There is truth in what you say. Truth is a dangerous muse. One dies for the truth.”
Nick Drake (poet) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In reality, there is no truth in socialism, because it has never worked. Still smarting from the hard lessons of history, today's Marxist socialists have learned to swiftly bury truth and any truth-seekers, before they can become entombed themselves.”
L. K. Samuels (born 1951) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: No Truth in Socialism: Why the ‘Crisis of Marxism’ Matters” American Thinker (Aug. 7, 2021)
“Science is rooted in the will to truth. With the will to truth it stands or falls. Lower the standard even slightly and science becomes diseased at the core. Not only science, but man. The will to truth, pure and unadulterated, is among the essential conditions of his existence; if the standard is compromised he easily becomes a kind of tragic caricature of himself.”
Max Wertheimer (1880–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 19 (1961 edition)
“I was interested in truth from the point of view of salvation just as much as in truth from the point of view of scientific certainty. It appeared to me that there were two paths to truth, and I decided to follow both of them.”
Georges Lemaître (1894–1966) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: AIKMAN, Duncan, New York Times Magazine, February 19, 1933, p. 3
“There is a reason that truth is considered to be a fundamentally different category than the beautiful or even the good. Sometimes, the truth can be ugly indeed, but even the ugliest truth is of intrinsic value.”
Vox Day (born 1968) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Theodore Beale, The Techno-Pedocracy, Vox Popoli, 18 February 2022
“When it comes to matters related to climate, democracy, human rights, to the equality of rights and duties between men and women, and many others, all we need to do is contemplate the truth, following John 8:32: - "An ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Jair Bolsonaro (born 1955) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the 74th UN General Assembly. Statement by Mr. Jair Messias Bolsonaro, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil. United Nations PaperSmart (24 September 2019).
“Besides, prophecies are tricky stuff. It’s only after that people recognize them as important. At the time they’re spoken most people don’t want to hear about them.” “Really? But aren’t they truth?” “Especially then. Truth is tough.” “Why? I mean, it’s the truth. It just is.” “I think that’s so, in the abstract, but none of us get to really know the abstract. We only know what we think.”
Lawrence M. Schoen (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The proximity between the counterfeit and the good coin does not make the good coin counterfeit nor the counterfeit good. In the same way the proximity between truth and falsehood does not make truth falsehood nor falsehood truth.”
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1056–1111) said by 1111 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Masters of the secret teachings say that the truth learned from another is of no value, and that the only truth which is living and effective, which is of value, is the truth which we ourselves discover. p. 13”
Alexandra David-Néel (1868–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth can never be merely a holy cluster of concepts, conditioning, or beliefs. It is not an event, nor is it an object apart from you in some sacred vault. For Truth to be Truth, it must be unchanging, immutable, ever present – yet it is beyond characteristics and conditions. It cannot be anything that comes and goes, for everything changeful arises from it and comes and goes in it.”
Mooji (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An honest Jury will thankfully accept good Advice from Judges, as they are Assistants; but they are bound by their Oaths to present the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth, to the best of their own, not the Judges, knowledge.”
John Somers, 1st Baron Somers (1650–1716) first seen 1681 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Security of Englishmen's Lives, or, The Trust, Power, and Duty of the Grand Juries of England (1681), p. 32
“Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without trust, we have no shared reality, no democracy, and it becomes impossible to deal with our world’s existential problems: climate, coronavirus, the battle for truth.”
Maria Ressa (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The poet is a truth bearer of reality and image. We live in a society of denial that doesn't want to see or hear these truth tales, so consequently poets are shunned to a great degree because people don't always want to hear the truth.”
Sandra María Esteves (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As Leslie Stephen has demonstrated, to suppress one truth is to suppress all truth, for truth is a coherent whole.”
Gertrude Kelly (1862–1934) said by 1934 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think that it’s very important, and what’s really crucial here is the memory of the victims and the search for the truth, and also the commitment to substantiate the truth. So the truth is foremost, because they accused us of being liars. They tried to denigrate the memory of the victims.”
Rigoberta Menchú (born 1959) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Democracy Now (2015)
“Justice can only serve Truth: this is written on the palace of Justice in Bratislava. Courageous and honest Slovak men have fought throughout history for this justice. I do not ask for mercy: I simply appeal to the Truth, to the Law and to Justice. The injustices I have personally experienced can be forgotten. But I can never renounce Truth and Justice.”
Ján Chryzostom Korec (1924–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’m very interested in presenting the truth of people who are not centered in mainstream narratives. But I’m also fascinated by how we construct our version of truth, by how two people can have the same experience and not only describe it differently but also believe that their version is the only truth. The novel I’m currently working on excavates this phenomenon.”
Peace Adzo Medie (born 1981) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The girl convinced herself that only the mad people in the world would tell you the truth when madness was the truth, when the truth itself was mad. (p64)”
Alexis Wright (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For me, either there is truth, or there is no truth. All these things about post-truth, fake news, and other stuff, is just a set of terms which is called upon to cover the lack of professionalism among us [journalists]. So, the biggest challenge today is not to invent other terms to justify our lack of quality, but to consistently work to improve the quality.”
Andriy Kulykov (born 1957) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: November 28, 2018 https://hromadske.radio/en/podcasts/ukraine-calling/either-there-is-truth-or-there-is-no-truth-andriy-kulykov-five-years-after-euromaidan
“The authentic unity of the Church is achieved in truth. The Church was established by its Founder – He who said, ‘I am the truth’ – as ‘the pillar and foundation of truth’ (1 Tim 3:15).”
Nicola Bux (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Church is eternal truth, because it is united with Truth—Christ—and is animated by the Spirit of Truth.”
John of Kronstadt (1829–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I say that truth is “relatively absolute,” I mean that the search for truth, which we cannot renounce, always takes place within a relationship. And truth, being dynamic in turn, arouses in us a moral duty, an uninterrupted questioning that can never be satisfied with a particular piece of knowledge.”
Carlo Sini (born 1933) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Alessandro Zaccuri, Carlo Sini: «La verità? Sta sempre nella relazione», Avvenire 29 March 2018
“Revere wanted to respect historical truth in his plays, without any compromise or concession: the truth of facts and customs, psychological, ideological, and even linguistic truth, since language must be a destiny.”
Giuseppe Picciola (1859–1912) first seen 1894 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From Trieste Litrati, Nicola Zanicelli Company, Bologna, 1894 2, pp. 61-62.
“We should not be ashamed to acknowledge truth from whatever source it comes to us, even if it is brought to us by former generations and foreign peoples. For him who seeks the truth there is nothing of higher value than truth itself.”
Al-Kindi (801–873) said by 873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fi’l-falsafa al-ula ("On First Philosophy") in M. A. Abu Rida (ed.) Rasa’ il al-Kindi al-falsafiyya (Cairo, 1950), p. 103; trans. R. Walzer in Greek into Arabic (Oxford, 1962), p. 12; reported in Albert Hourani, A Histo…
“We ought not to be ashamed of appreciating the truth and of acquiring it wherever it comes from, even if it comes from races distant and nations different from us. For the seeker of truth nothing takes precedence over the truth.”
Al-Kindi (801–873) said by 873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ibid., trans. Alfred L. Ivry, Al-Kindi's Metaphysics (SUNY Press, 1978) p. 58
“I feel as if it psychotherapy has chosen me in a way. There’s something about helping people discover their own truth. Counselling and psychotherapy are perhaps a bit like journalism, but it’s a unique way of seeking the truth. It’s about helping the client seek their truth their own way, with me as their guide.”.”
Pamela Daniels (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Assertion of truths known and felt, promulgation of truth from the high platform of truth itself, declaration of faith by the mouth of moral conviction — this is the New Testament method, and the true one.”
Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In all matters of eternal truth, the soul is before the intellect; the things of God are spiritually discerned. You know truth by being true; you recognize God by being like Him.”
Frederick William Robertson (1816–1853) said by 1853 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think Alfred Nobel would know what I mean when I say that I accept this award in the spirit of a curator of some precious heirloom which he holds in trust for its true owners — all those to whom beauty is truth and truth beauty — and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.”
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The poets are wrong of course. ... But then poets are almost always wrong about facts. That's because they are not really interested in facts: only in truth: which is why the truth they speak is so true that even those who hate poets by simple natural instinct are exalted and terrified by it.”
William Faulkner (1897–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No one can tell another man is true. Truth is all around us...Truth is where ever man has glimpsed divinity.”
Gore Vidal (1925–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The beginning of religion, more precisely its content, is the concept of religion itself, that God is the absolute truth, the truth of all things, and subjectively that religion alone is the absolutely true knowledge.”
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) said by 1831 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The simulacrum is never what hides the truth—it is truth that hides the fact that there is none. The simulacrum is true. — Ecclesiastes”
Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The disposition to listen to the Truth (that is, obedience) and the readiness to act in the Truth constitute the true dignity of the human person.”
Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: John Paul II. Teachings for an Unbelieving World . Ave Maria Press, Kindle Edition, March 2020
“I do not think we are deceived to grow, But that the crudest fancy, slightest show, Covers some separate truth that we may know.In the one Truth, each separate fact is true; Eternally in one I many view, And destinies through destiny pursue.”
Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) said by 1850 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lacan's definition of human deception: We deceive the Other by means of the truth itself; in a universe in which all are looking for the true face beneath the mask, the best way to lead them astray is to wear the mask of truth itself.”
Slavoj Žižek (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I look at a body I know it gives me choices of what to put in a painting; what will suit me and what won't. There is a distinction between fact and truth. Truth has an element of revelation about it. If something is true, it does more than strike one as merely being so.”
Lucian Freud (1922–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Henneberger: If the Bible is not literally true, does that mean we don’t need to take it seriously? L'Engle: Oh no, you do, because it’s truth, not fact, and you have to take truth seriously even when it expands beyond the facts.”
Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Eclecticism. Every truth is so true that any truth must be false.”
F. H. Bradley (1846–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Poetry is the utterance of truth — deep, heartfelt truth. The true poet is very near the oracle.”
Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–1880) said by 1880 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Most men are less afraid of ghosts than of facts; but out of the truth of things — truth of character and vision — grows true life.”
Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–1880) said by 1880 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The truth that seems discouraging does in reality only transform the courage of those strong enough to accept it; and, in any event, a truth that disheartens, because it is true, is still of far more value than the most stimulating of falsehoods.”
Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) said by 1949 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“SUPREME VALUE CENTERS IN LOVE. All true values are differentiations of this supreme value. The means by which love is differentiated into the infinite variety of its divine nature may be called “truth.” Life is the evidence of the truth of love in action.”
Martin Cecil, 7th Marquess of Exeter (1909–1988) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As of a Trumpet, 1968, p. 43
“A truth presented by Satan himself is just as true as a truth stated by God.”
Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916) first seen 1879 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What is Truth? Zion's Watch Tower, (July 7, 1879).
“The bottom line is that civil society simply cannot function without default to truth…I can’t converse with you, for instance, if I subject every statement that comes out of your mouth to critical scrutiny before I accept it as true. Conversation cannot proceed without default to truth.”
Malcolm Gladwell (born 1963) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the propensity to interpret something as true in “Malcolm Gladwell: ‘I’m just trying to get people to take psychology seriously’” in The Guardian (2019 Sep 1)
“[T]here also seems to be a particular kind of ground truth, [e.g.,] you are confronted with the enormity of something existing at all. ...It's stunning when you realize something exists, rather than nothing. ...[T]his seems to be true. There is an absolute truth in the fact that something seems to be happening.”
Joscha Bach (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source