“Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believed.”

—  William Blake

Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 69

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 "Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believed." by William Blake?
William Blake photo
William Blake 249
English Romantic poet and artist 1757–1827

Related quotes

Terence McKenna photo

“If the truth can be told so as to be understood, it will be believed.”

Terence McKenna (1946–2000) American ethnobotanist

Re: Evolution (24 June 1994) This is derived from a statement of William Blake: "Truth cannot be told, so as to be understood, and not be believ'd."
Variant: If the truth can be told so as to be understood, it will be believed.

James Branch Cabell photo

“You touch on a disheartening truth. People never want to be told anything they do not believe already.”

James Branch Cabell book The Cream of the Jest

Source: The Cream of the Jest (1917), Ch. 13 : Suggesting Themes of Universal Appeal

John Steinbeck photo

“Sometimes, a lie is told in kindness. I don't believe it ever works kindly. The quick pain of truth can pass away, but the slow, eating agony of a lie is never lost.”

John Steinbeck book East of Eden

Source: East of Eden

“The human desire to be understood is never quite sincere. It is on our own terms that we desire to be understood, not on the terms of truth.”

Elizabeth Goudge (1900–1984) English fiction writer

The Child from the Sea (1970), Book 2, Chapter 1.5

Clarence Darrow photo

“One believes in the truthfulness of a man because of his long experience with the man, and because the man has always told a consistent story. But no man has told so consistent a story as nature.”

Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union

Why I Am An Agnostic (1929)

George Eliot photo

“You told me the truth when you said to me once, "There's a sort of wrong that can never be made up for."”

George Eliot book Adam Bede

Adam Bede (1859)

Holly Black photo

“Boys never believe I can beat them, she told me back then. But I always win in the end.”

Holly Black book Black Heart

Source: Black Heart

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg photo

“Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates.”

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) German scientist, satirist

J 77
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook J (1789)

Hunter S. Thompson photo

“I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours.”

Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author

2000s, Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century (2004)

Related topics