Walter Raleigh: Quotes about the truth

Walter Raleigh was English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. Explore interesting quotes on truth.
Walter Raleigh: 82   quotes 8   likes

“What dependence can I have on the alleged events of ancient history, when I find such difficulty in ascertaining the truth regarding a matter that has taken place only a few minutes ago, and almost in my own presence!”

Walter Raleigh

Upon receiving discrepant accounts from the participants in a recent quarrel below his window.
Robert Chambers, Testimony: its Posture in the Scientific World http://books.google.com/books?id=pChcAAAAQAAJ& (1859) p. 12
Attributed

Truth , History , Dependency

“Historians desiring to write the actions of men, ought to set down the simple truth, and not say anything for love or hatred; also to choose such an opportunity for writing as it may be lawful to think what they will, and write what they think, which is a rare happiness of the time.”

Walter Raleigh

Source: The Cabinet Council (published 1658), Chapter 25

Love , Men , Truth , Law

“Go, Soul, the body’s guest,
Upon a thankless arrant:
Fear not to touch the best;
The truth shall be thy warrant:
Go, since I needs must die,
And give the world the lie.Say to the court, it glows.
And shines like rotten wood;
Say to the church, it shows
What’s good, and doth no good:
If church and court reply,
Then give them both the lie.”

Walter Raleigh

The Lie (1608)

Truth , Lie , World , Fear

“Whosoever, in writing a modern history, shall follow truth too near the heels, it may happily strike out his teeth.”

Walter Raleigh

The History of the World (1614), Preface

Truth , History

“If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy Love.But fading flowers in every field,
To winter floods their treasures yield;
A honey'd tongue, a heart of gall,
Is Fancy's spring, but Sorrow's fall.”

Walter Raleigh

The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd (1599), st. 1–2
Inspired by Christopher Marlowe's The Passionate Shepherd to his Love

Love , Pleasure , Truth , World