# Quotes about truth

- Quotes: 41
- Authors: 21
- Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth

## Quotes

> But this splendid exaggeration, which even at present it would be extremely difficult to reconcile with the real state of mankind, can be considered only as the rash sally of a devout but careless writer, the measure of whose belief was regulated by that of his wishes. But neither the belief nor the wishes of the fathers can alter the truth of history.

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md), [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't...

[Erica Jong](https://www.leafyquotes.com/erica-jong.md) · [How to Save Your Own Life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/erica-jong/how-to-save-your-own-life.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/erica-jong/how-to-save-your-own-life/advice-is-what.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> Others taunt me with having knelt at well-curbs
>
> Always wrong to the light, so never seeing
>
> Deeper down in the well than where the water
>
> Gives me back in a shining surface picture
>
> Me myself in the summer heaven, godlike
>
> Looking out of a wreath of fern and cloud puffs.
>
> Once, when trying with chin against a well-curb,
>
> I discerned, as I thought, beyond the picture,
>
> Through the picture, a something white, uncertain,
>
> Something more of the depths – and then I lost it.
>
> Water came to rebuke the too clear water.
>
> One drop fell from a fern, and lo, a ripple
>
> Shook whatever it was lay there at bottom,
>
> Blurred it, blotted it out. What was that whiteness?
>
> Truth? A pebble of quartz? For once, then, something.

[Robert Frost](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-frost.md) · [New Hampshire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-frost/new-hampshire.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-frost/new-hampshire/others-taunt-me-with.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> It is the one great weakness of journalism as a picture of our modern existence, that it must be a picture made up entirely of exceptions. We announce on flaring posters that a man has fallen off a scaffolding. We do not announce on flaring posters that a man has not fallen off a scaffolding. Yet this latter fact is fundamentally more exciting, as indicating that that moving tower of terror and mystery, a man, is still abroad upon the earth. That the man has not fallen off a scaffolding is really more sensational; and it is also some thousand times more common. But journalism cannot reasonably be expected thus to insist upon the permanent miracles. Busy editors cannot be expected to put on their posters, "Mr. Wilkinson Still Safe," or "Mr. Jones, of Worthing, Not Dead Yet." They cannot announce the happiness of mankind at all. They cannot describe all the forks that are not stolen, or all the marriages that are not judiciously dissolved. Hence the complex picture they give of life is of necessity fallacious; they can only represent what is unusual. However democratic they may be, they are only concerned with the minority.

[G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [The Ball and the Cross](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-ball-and-the-cross.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-ball-and-the-cross/it-is-the.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> Truths turn into dogmas the instant that they are disputed. Thus every man who utters a doubt defines a religion. And the scepticism of our time does not really destroy the beliefs, rather it creates them; gives them their limits and their plain and defiant shape. We who are Liberals once held Liberalism lightly as a truism. Now it has been disputed, and we hold it fiercely as a faith. We who believe in patriotism once thought patriotism to be reasonable, and thought little more about it. Now we know it to be unreasonable, and know it to be right. We who are Christians never knew the great philosophic common sense which inheres in that mystery until the anti-Christian writers pointed it out to us. The great march of mental destruction will go on. Everything will be denied. Everything will become a creed. It is a reasonable position to deny the stones in the street; it will be a religious dogma to assert them. It is a rational thesis that we are all in a dream; it will be a mystical sanity to say that we are all awake. Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two make four. Swords will be drawn to prove that leaves are green in summer. We shall be left defending, not only the incredible virtues and sanities of human life, but something more incredible still, this huge impossible universe which stares us in the face. We shall fight for visible prodigies as if they were invisible. We shall look on the impossible grass and the skies with a strange courage. We shall be of those who have seen and yet have believed.

[G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/truths-turn-into.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md), [doubt](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/doubt.md)

> No man ought to write at all, or even to speak at all, unless he thinks that he is in truth and the other man in error. In similar style, I hold that I am dogmatic and right, while Mr. Shaw is dogmatic and wrong.

[G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/no-man-ought.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> When the old Liberals removed the gags from all the heresies, their idea was that religious and philosophical discoveries might thus be made. Their view was that cosmic truth was so important that every one ought to bear independent testimony. The modern idea is that cosmic truth is so unimportant that it cannot matter what any one says. The former freed inquiry as men loose a noble hound; the latter frees inquiry as men fling back into the sea a fish unfit for eating. Never has there been so little discussion about the nature of men as now, when, for the first time, any one can discuss it. The old restriction meant that only the orthodox were allowed to discuss religion. Modern liberty means that nobody is allowed to discuss it. Good taste, the last and vilest of human superstitions, has succeeded in silencing us where all the rest have failed.

[G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/when-the-old.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> The word 'heresy' not only means no longer being wrong; it practically means being clear-headed and courageous. The word 'orthodoxy' not only no longer means being right; it practically means being wrong. All this can mean one thing, and one thing only. It means that people care less for whether they are philosophically right.

[G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/the-word-heresy.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> Truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study and preparation, thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think.

On Liberty

Topics: [thinking](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking.md), [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> I know nothing of that directly; I only know what I have been told by other young ones who couldn't have known directly either. I want to find out the truth about them and the wanting has grown until there is more of curiosity in me than fear.

[Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [The Gods Themselves](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-gods-themselves.md) · p. 104 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-gods-themselves/i-know-nothing.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [knowledge](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge.md)

> I don’t want to believe it just because I want to believe it.

[Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Prelude to Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation.md) · p. 251 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/i-dont-want.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> We might not be able to give out the news for security reasons—that’s the excuse they always advance for hiding bad news—but I would know.

[Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Prelude to Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation.md) · p. 45 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/we-might-not.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> Q. You do not consider your statement a disloyal one?
>
> A. No, sir. Scientific truth is beyond loyalty and disloyalty.
>
> Q. You are sure that your statement represents scientific truth?
>
> A. I am.

[Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation/q-you-do-not.md)

Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> Truth is a discredited commodity among diplomats.

[Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [The Currents of Space](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-currents-of-space.md) · p. 64 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-currents-of-space/truth-is-a-discredited.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> Anything could be found in figures if the search were long enough and hard enough and if the proper pieces of information were ignored or overlooked.

[Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [The Naked Sun](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-naked-sun.md) · p. 399 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-naked-sun/anything-could-be-found.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> Maybe it’s a mark of a maturing culture, do you think, that secrets aren’t kept, that truth is told, that things are talked out?

[Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [Firstborn](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/firstborn.md) · p. 313 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/firstborn/maybe-its-a-mark.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [honesty](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/honesty.md)

> When I was a boy, Brayldon, my old master once said that time could never destroy the truth—it could only hide it among legends. He was right.

[Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke.md) · p. 114 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/when-i-was.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md)

> News that is sufficiently bad somehow carries its own guarantee of truth. Only good reports need confirmation.

[Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke.md) · p. 170 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/news-that-is-sufficiently.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> There was no substitute for reality; one should be aware of imitations.

[Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Fountains Of Paradise](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise.md) · p. 129 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-fountains-of-paradise/there-was-no-substitute.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> Relying on words to lead you to the truth is like relying on an incomplete formal system to lead you to the truth. A formal system will give you some truths, but as we shall soon see, a formal system, no matter how powerful—cannot lead to all truths.

Godel, Escher, Bach

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [words](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/words.md)

> One of the basic tenets of Zen Buddhism is that there is no way to characterize what Zen is. No matter what verbal space you try to enclose Zen in, it resists, and spills over. It might seem, then, that all efforts to explain Zen are complete wastes of time. But that is not the attitude of Zen masters and students. For instance, Zen koans are a central part of Zen study, verbal though they are. Koans are supposed to be "triggers" which, though they do not contain enough information in themselves to impart enlightenment, may possibly be sufficient to unlock the mechanisms inside one's mind that lead to enlightenment. But in general, the Zen attitude is that words and truth are incompatible, or at least that no words can capture truth.

Godel, Escher, Bach

Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [words](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/words.md)

> In order to seek truth, it is necessary once in the course of our life, to doubt, as far as possible, of all things.

Principles of Philosophy

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [doubt](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/doubt.md)

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

[H.L. Mencken](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken.md) · [A Mencken Chrestomathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy/platitude-an-idea.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> Truth — Something somehow discreditable to someone.

[H.L. Mencken](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken.md) · [A Mencken Chrestomathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hl-mencken/a-mencken-chrestomathy/truth-something-somehow.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> I like to do my principal research in bars, where people are more likely to tell the truth or, at least, lie less convincingly than they do in briefings and books.

Holidays in Hell

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object.

[Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Fall](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-fall.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-fall/truth-like-light.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [lies](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies.md)

> "This is the truth," we say. "You can discuss it as much as you want; we aren't interested. But in a few years there'll be the police who will show you we are right."

[Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Fall](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-fall.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-fall/this-is-the.md)

Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> There always comes a time in history when the person who dares to say that 2+2=4 is punished by death. And the issue is not what reward or what punishment will be the outcome of that reasoning. The issue is simply whether or not 2+2=4.

[Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Plague](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-plague.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-plague/there-always-comes.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it.

[James A. Michener](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener.md) · [Space](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/space.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/space/an-age-is-called.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [knowledge](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge.md)

> The lawyer's truth is not truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency. Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrong-doing.

Civil Disobedience

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> They who know of no purer sources of truth, who have traced up its stream no higher, stand, and wisely stand, by the Bible and the Constitution, and drink at it there with reverence and humility; but they who behold where it comes trickling into this lake or that pool, gird up their loins once more, and continue their pilgrimage toward its fountain-head.

Civil Disobedience

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> Autobiography is never entirely true. No one can get the right perspective on himself. Every fact is colored by imagination and dream. The young look forth across the sea to a mirage of fairylands filled with hidden treasures; the aged turn to the fading past, and through the mist and haze that veils once familiar scenes, bygone events assume weird and fanciful proportions.

The Story Of My Life

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [memory](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/memory.md)

> What is objective must be common to many minds and consequently transmissible from one to the other, and as this transmission can only come about by... discourse... we are even forced to conclude: no discourse no objectivity.

[Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/what-is-objective.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [words](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/words.md)

> What we call objective reality is, in the last analysis, what is common to many thinking beings, and could be common to all; this common part, we shall see, can only be the harmony expressed by mathematical laws. It is this harmony... which is the sole objective reality, the only truth we can attain; and when I add that the universal harmony of the world is the source of all beauty, it will be understood what price we should attach to the slow and difficult progress which little by little enables us to know it better.

[Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/what-we-call.md)

Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth.

[Mark Twain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain.md) · [Adventures of Huckleberry Finn](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/adventures-of-huckleberry-finn.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/adventures-of-huckleberry-finn/there-was-things.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> Homely truth is unpalatable.

[Mark Twain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain.md) · [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/homely-truth-is-unpalatable.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> Let great authors have their due, as time, which is the author of authors, be not deprived of his due, which is, further and further to discover truth.

[Francis Bacon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon.md) · [The Advancement of Learning](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning/let-great-authors.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md)

> We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.

[Francis Bacon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon.md) · [The Advancement of Learning](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning/we-are-much.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> While both are dear, Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.

[Aristotle](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle.md) · [Nicomachean Ethics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/nicomachean-ethics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/nicomachean-ethics/while-both-are.md)

Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> My way of joking is to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the world.

[George Bernard Shaw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw.md) · [John Bull's Other Island](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/john-bulls-other-island.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/john-bulls-other-island/my-way-of-joking.md)

Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)

> The servility with which the greater part of the English intelligentsia have swallowed and repeated Russian propaganda from 1941 onwards would be quite astounding if it were not that they have behaved similarly on several earlier occasions. On one controversial issue after another the Russian viewpoint has been accepted without examination and then publicised with complete disregard to historical truth or intellectual decency.

[George Orwell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell.md) · [Animal Farm](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/animal-farm/the-servility-with.md)

Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md)