“The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted.”

— Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

H 7
Variant translation: The most dangerous untruths are truths slightly distorted.
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook H (1784-1788)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted." by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg?

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg 137

German scientist, satirist 1742–1799

Related quotes

“The most dangerous flaws are those which are good in moderation.”

Rick Riordan book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

“There is no truth but untruth. There is no reason but unreason.”

Edmund Cooper (1926–1982) British writer

The Overman Culture (1971)

“When people reject a truth or an untruth it is not because it is a truth or an untruth that they reject it.
No, if it isn't in accord with their beliefs in the first place they simply say, "Nothing doing," and refuse to inspect it.”

Ogden Nash (1902–1971) American poet

Good Intentions (1942), Seeing Eye to Eye is Believing

“The issue truth-versus-untruth is as far as possible kept in the background.”

George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist

"The Prevention of Literature" (1946)
Context: The enemies of intellectual liberty always try to present their case as a plea for discipline versus individualism. The issue truth-versus-untruth is as far as possible kept in the background. Although the point of emphasis may vary, the writer who refuses to sell his opinions is always branded as a mere egoist. He is accused, that is, either of wanting to shut himself up in an ivory tower, or of making an exhibitionist display of his own personality, or of resisting the inevitable current of history in an attempt to cling to unjustified privileges.