Quotes about truth

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

It bothers me when they make up these colourful answers. I wish I could make them understand that if they don’t know the answer, or they think the right answer isn’t very interesting, it’s better to say so rather than just invent absolute nonsense.

Sometimes, everyone is right. Not always and not even usually, but once in a while, everyone is right.

The facts were out; it was now a question of who would believe them.''-Bob Archer, Director of the CIA

Answers were always important, but they were seldom easy.

But no. There is a difference between the truth and what we wish were true.

“All stories are true,” Skarpi said. “But this one really happened, if that’s what you mean.” He took another slow drink, then smiled again, his bright eyes dancing. “More or less. You have to be a bit of a liar to tell a story the right way. Too much truth confuses the facts. Too much honesty makes you sound insincere.”

Mr Pollexfen was at one and the same time right and wrong—a condition much more common than is generally supposed.

“We are not a debating club,” Franklin said. “Our goal is to get at the truth, where that is possible.”

Truth is slippery, not because it is difficult to grasp, but because we prefer our preconceptions, our beliefs, our myths.

Defend your opinion only if it can be shown to be true, not because it is your opinion.

Somewhere we taught ourselves that our opinions are more significant than the facts. And somehow we get our egos and our opinions and Truth all mixed up in a single package, so that when something does challenge one of the notions to which we subscribe, we react as if it challenges us.