Quotes on Truth
“Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Neil Gaiman, Society, Truth
"It's plain and simple. Work harder than everyone else and the only way to do that is to do it. It may sound silly but it's the truth and there ain't nothing to it but to do it!"
Ronnie Coleman, Goals, Truth
"Remember... all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more." – Morpheus (The Matrix)
The Matrix, Truth
“Earthly minds, like mud-walls, resist the strongest batteries: And though perhaps sometimes the force of a clear argument may make some impression, yet they nevertheless stand firm, and keep out the enemy truth, that would captivate or disturb them. Tell a man passionately in love, that he is jilted; bring a score of witnesses of the falsehood of his mistress, it is ten to one but three kind words of hers shall invalidate all their testimonies.”
― John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
John Locke, Intelligence/Wisdom, Truth, Love
“[M]an is not permitted without censure to follow his own thoughts in the search of truth, when they lead him ever so little out of the common road.”
― John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
John Locke, Truth
“To love truth for truth's sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all other virtues.”
John Locke, Truth
“One unerring mark of the love of truth is not entertaining any proposition with greater assurance than the proofs it is built upon will warrant.”
― John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
John Locke, Goals, Truth
“For where is the man that has incontestable evidence of the truth of all that he holds, or of the falsehood of all he condemns; or can say that he has examined to the bottom all his own, or other men's opinions? The necessity of believing without knowledge, nay often upon very slight grounds, in this fleeting state of action and blindness we are in, should make us more busy and careful to inform ourselves than constrain others.”
― John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
John Locke, Goals, Truth, Intelligence/Wisdom
“Truth is the ultimate power. When the truth comes around, all the lies have to run and hide.”
Ice Cube, Truth, Power
“If I tell the truth about me, what can the world say? I’d love to be accepted, but I’m not seeking acceptance. If you are a fan, it’s because you’re a fan of who I am psychological, emotionally, and individually. The world can relate to a human being more than it can relate to a superstar.”
Kevin Gates, Truth, Goals, Life
“You can't be scared to die for the truth. The truth is the only thing that is ever going to be constant.”
Will Smith, Goals, Death, Truth
“To rise from error to truth is rare and beautiful.”
Victor Hugo, Truth
“It is not easy to keep silent when silence is a lie.”
Victor Hugo, Truth
“To lie a little is not possible: he who lies, lies the whole lie.”
Victor Hugo, Truth
“If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.”
Virginia Woolf, Truth
“The time is not come for impartial history. If the truth were told just now, it would not be credited.”
Robert E Lee, Truth
“I am no lover of disorder and doubt as such. Rather I fear to lose truth by the pretension to possess it already wholly.”
― William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience
William James, Truth
“We have to live today by what truth we can get today and be ready tomorrow to call it falsehood.”
William James, Truth
“This life's dim windows of the soul
Distorts the heavens from pole to pole
And leads you to believe a lie
When you see with, not through, the eye.”
William Blake, Life, Truth
“When I tell the truth, it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do.”
William Blake, Truth
“Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not be believed.”
William Blake, Truth
“A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.”
― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
William Blake, Truth
“Not only had I got rid of the theology and the supernatural, but I had found the truth of evolution.”
― Andrew Carnegie, The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie, Belief, Truth
“I'm telling you a lie in a vicious effort that you will repeat my lie over and over until it becomes true.”
Lady Gaga, Goals, Truth
“I used to walk down the street like I was a fucking star... I want people to walk around delusional about how great they can be - and then to fight so hard for it every day that the lie becomes the truth.”
Lady Gaga, Goals, Truth
“Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it’ll always get you the right ones.”
John Lennon, Friendship, Truth
“Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty.”
Stephen King, Truth, Friendship, Love
“Seeing is believing, but is it truth? Depends on your point-of-view. Are you listening, horsemen? When you emerge, and you will, I will be there... waiting. Because mark my words, you will get what's coming to you... in ways you can't expect... but very much deserve. Because once thing I believe in is an eye for an eye.”
Morgan Freeman, Truth, Belief
“Marxism consists of thousands of truths, but they all boil down to one sentence: It is right to rebel.”
Mao Zedong, Truth
“Every person has the truth in his heart. No matter how complicated his circumstances, no matter how others look at him from the outside, and no matter how deep or shallow the truth dwells in his heart, once his heart is pieced with a crystal needle, the truth will gush forth like a geyser.”
Che Guevara, Truth
“Many will call me an adventurer, and that I am...only one of a different sort: one who risks his skin to prove his truths.”
Che Guevara, Truth
“Always take the position that you are to some degree wrong, and your goal is to be less wrong over time. One of the biggest mistakes people generally make, and I’m guilty of it too, is wishful thinking. You want something to be true, even if it isn’t true. And so you ignore the real truth because of what you want to be true. This is a very difficult trap to avoid. [So] just take that approach, that you’re always to some degree wrong, and your goal is to be less wrong.”
Elon Musk, Goals, Mistakes, Truth
“Well, I do think there’s a good framework for thinking. It is physics. You know, the sort of first principles reasoning. What I mean by that is boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there, as opposed to reasoning by analogy. Through most of our life, we get through life by reasoning by analogy, which essentially means copying what other people do with slight variations. And you have to do that. Otherwise, mentally, you wouldn’t be able to get through the day. But when you want to do something new, you have to apply the physics approach.”
Elon Musk, Goals, Intelligence/Wisdom, Science, Truth, Life
"Tell the truth. That way you don’t have to remember a story."
John Wooden, Truth
“The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life's meaning. We long for a Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish mistakes. But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable. If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.”
― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
Carl Sagan Pale Blue Dot, Life, Nature, Intelligence/Wisdom, Courage, Truth, Goals
“Of course it's the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.”
Margaret Thatcher, Truth
“Rumor travels faster, but it don't stay put as long as truth.”
Will Rogers, Truth
“The most interesting thing about the so-called lies of Diego is that, sooner or later, the ones involved in the imaginary tale get angry, not because of the lies, but because of the truth contained in the lies, which always comes forth.”
Frida Kahlo, Truth
“The truth springs from arguments amongst friends.”
David Hume, Truth, Friendship
"Truth is so rare that it is delightful to tell it."
Letter to Thomas Higginson
Emily Dickinson, Truth
"Tell the truth but tell it slant"
Poem – Tell the truth but tell it slant
Emily Dickinson, Truth
“Love is only one fine star away, even though the living is sometimes laced with lies.”
Stevie Nicks, Love, Truth
“I’ve laid down with love and woke up with lies. What’s it all, worth only the heart can measure.”
Stevie Nicks, Love, Truth
“Truth, virtue, and courage are not necessarily enough, but they are our best bet.”
Jordan Peterson, Truth, Kindness, Courage
“If your life is not what it could be, try telling the truth. If you cling desperately to an ideology or wallow in nihilism, try telling the truth. If you feel weak and rejected, and desperate, and confused, try telling the truth. In Paradise, everyone speaks the truth. That is what makes it Paradise. Tell the truth. Or, at least, don’t lie.”
Jordan Peterson, Truth, Life
“Truth is the handmaiden of love.”
Jordan Peterson, Truth, Love
“The truth is something that burns, it burns off deadwood and people don’t like having their deadwood burnt off often because they’re 95 percent deadwood.”
Jordan Peterson, Truth
“When you have something to say, silence is a lie.”
Jordan Peterson, Truth
“Tell yourself the truth! That you’ve wasted enough time, and that you have other dreams that will take courage to realize…”
David Goggins, Truth, Time, Goals, Courage
“Is world peace EVER going to be a reality? Sadly, likely not in our lifetimes. But that does not mean we should give in to despair. Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it-always.’”
- Reflecting on the 20th anniversary of 9/11
Jane Goodall, Truth, Love
“Let each person tell the truth from his own experience.”
Florence Nightingale, Truth
"Whatever satisfies the soul is truth."
Walt Whitman, Truth
"The existence of God is not subjective. He either exists or he doesn’t. It’s not a matter of opinion. You can have your own opinions. But you can’t have your own facts."
Ricky Gervais, Belief, Truth
"That’s the other thing I learned that day, that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, in the end, leads to liberation and dignity."
Ricky Gervais, Truth, Freedom
"Beliefs do not change facts. Facts, if one is rational, should change beliefs."
Ricky Gervais, Belief, Truth
"I am not a wolf in sheep’s clothing, I’m a wolf in wolf’s clothing."
Ricky Gervais, Truth
"We know what it is to be lied to, and we know how important it is not lie to ourselves. We are powerful because we have survived, and that is what it all about—survival and growth."
Audre Lorde, Truth, Power, Life
"How much of this truth can I bear to see and still live unblinded? How much of this pain can I use?"
Audre Lorde, Truth
"I can't believe what you say, because I see what you do."
James Baldwin, Truth
"Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe."
Henry David Thoreau, Truth
"Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth."
Henry David Thoreau, Love, Wealth, Success, Truth
"The true basis of the imagination is reality."
Maria Montessori, Life, Intelligence/Wisdom, Truth
"There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad."
George Orwell, Truth
"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows."
George Orwell, Truth, Freedom
"Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad."
George Orwell, Truth, Society
"In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
George Orwell, Truth
"It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry."
Thomas Paine, Truth
"Is it more probable that nature should go out of her course or that a man should tell a lie? We have never seen, in our time, nature go out of her course. But we have good reason to believe that millions of lies have been told in the same time. It is therefore at least millions to one that the reporter of a miracle tells a lie."
Thomas Paine, Truth, Nature
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest."
Thomas Paine, Truth
"Rhetoric is no substitute for reality."
Thomas Sowell, Truth
"There are only two ways of telling the complete truth--anonymously and posthumously."
Thomas Sowell, Truth
"People who pride themselves on their "complexity" and deride others for being "simplistic" should realize that the truth is often not very complicated. What gets complex is evading the truth."
Thomas Sowell, Truth
"When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear."
Thomas Sowell, Truth
"But instinct is something which transcends knowledge. We have, undoubtedly, certain finer fibers that enable us to perceive truths when logical deduction, or any other willful effort of the brain, is futile."
Tesla, Intelligence/Wisdom, Truth
"We called it “making a way out of no way.” So when we were standing in protest facing police dogs and fire hoses, we knew without any doubt that somebody who was greater than us all would make a way out of no way and protect the defenders of the truth."
John Lewis, Belief, Truth
"Despite everything that has happened, regardless of the pain of their loss, despite all the other nonviolent peaceful warriors who suffered and sometimes fell, I have never once considered giving up or giving out. I could not let myself get lost in a sea of despair, because I had faith that the truth is bigger than all humanity. The tragedy of their loss was a crisis of faith, but in that struggle I discovered that you can kill a Medgar Evers or a Jimmie Lee Jackson. You can kill three civil rights workers named Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner. You can bomb four innocent little girls in church on a Sunday morning. You can even kill three of the finest leaders of the twentieth century, but you cannot kill the truth they represented. The truth marches on; it is not connected to the life of any one individual. When a person dies, the dream does not die. You can kill a man, but the truth that he stood for will never die."
John Lewis, Truth
"We in the movement decided to actualize our belief that the hatred we experienced was not based on any truth, but was actually an illusion in the minds of those who hated us."
John Lewis, Truth
"It takes courage to admit that we participate in killing, violence, and hate around the world. And once you face the truth, it is difficult to retreat back into a state of unconsciousness. Becoming aware of the truth requires action, and that is when the struggle begins."
John Lewis, Courage, Truth
"There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting."
John Lewis, Goals, Truth, Mistakes
"even though the truth can’t be denied or erased, it can be systemically obscured, strategically misinterpreted, and hidden from mainstream comprehension."
John Lewis, Truth
"No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful."
Eleanor Roosevelt, Sex, Truth
"You should not honor men more than truth."
Plato, Truth
"If you don't want to slip up tomorrow, speak the truth today."
Bruce Lee, Truth
"The Truth is found when men (and Women) are free to pursue it."
FDR- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Truth, Freedom
"The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism -- ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.... Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing."