Quotes about the truth
page 79

“Even the victor in a just cause is susceptible to the passions which war arouses. Every inhuman feeling is at once exacerbated. Truth, decency, morality, justice are the first casualties in any war. The accumulated effect makes a just settlement impossible. ... The pacifist treasures justice, liberty; but he believes that they can only be lastingly secured by peaceable means and that the use of force will only contaminate them. ... Armaments themselves provide an independent cause of war owing to the suspicion and fear which they breed. ... Unilateral disarmament offers the only way to escape once the policy of collateral disarmament has failed.”

Michael Foot (1913–2010) British politician

Source: Article in Young Oxford and War (1934), quoted in Mervyn Jones, Michael Foot (1994), p. 30

Justice, War, Passion, Way

“There is a Path which leads to that which is known as Initiation, and through Initiation to the Perfecting of Man; a Path which is recognized in all the great religions, and the chief features of which are described in similar terms in every one of the great faiths of the world. You may read of it in the Roman Catholic teachings as divided into three parts: (1) The Path of Purification or Purgation; (2) the Path of Illumination; and (3) the Path of Union with Divinity. You find it among the Mussulmans in the Sufi — the mystic — teachings of Islam, where it is known under the names of the Way, the Truth and the Life. You find it further eastward still in the great faith of Buddhism, divided into subdivisions, though these can be classified under the broader outline. It is similarly divided in Hinduism; for in both those great religions, in which the study of psychology, of the human mind and the human constitution, has played so great a part, you find a more definite subdivision. But really it matters not to which faith you turn; it matters not which particular set of names you choose as best attracting or expressing your own ideas; the Path is but one; its divisions are always the same; from time immemorial that Path has stretched from the life of the world to the life of the Divine.”

Annie Besant (1847–1933) British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator

Source: Initiation, The Perfecting of Man (1923)

Faith, Religion, Study, Time

“There is nothing new in these lectures, but only old truths retold. But the truths are of such vivid and perennial interest that, though old, they are never stale, and, though well known, there is always something to say which seems to throw on them new light and new charm. For they touch the deepest recesses of our being, and bring the breath of heaven into the lower life of earth...
May these reminders of the ancient facts of discipleship and Masterhood nerve some to effort, encourage others to perseverance. May they help some to realize the possibility of obeying the command: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect."”

Annie Besant (1847–1933) British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator

Source: Foreword, Initiation, The Perfecting of Man (1923)

Light, Help, Perfection, Life

“The Masters of the secret teachings say that the truth learned from another is of no value, and that the only truth which is living and effective, which is of value, is the truth which we ourselves discover.”

Alexandra David-Néel (1868–1969) French explorer, spiritualist, Buddhist, anarchist and writer

Source: The Secret Oral Teachings in the Tibetan Buddhist Sects (1964)

Secret, Learning

“[W]e understand that if the child were to give in to the overpowering character of reality and experience he would not be able to act with the kind of equanimity we need in our non-instinctive world. So one of the first things a child has to do is to learn to “abandon ecstasy,” to do without awe, to leave fear and trembling behind. Only then can he act with a certain oblivious self-confidence, when he has naturalized his world. We say “naturalized” but we mean unnaturalized, falsified, with the truth obscured, the despair of the human condition hidden, a despair that the child glimpses in his night terrors and daytime phobias and neuroses. This despair he avoids by building defenses; and these defenses allow him to feel a basic sense of self-worth, of meaningfulness, of power. They allow him to feel that he controls his life and his death, that he really does live and act as a willful and free individual, that he has a unique and self-fashioned identity, that he is somebody—not just a trembling accident germinated on a hothouse planet that Carlyle for all time called a “hall of doom.””

Ernest Becker book The Denial of Death

We called one’s life style a vital lie, and now we can understand better why we said it was vital: it is a necessary and basic dishonesty about oneself and one’s whole situation. This revelation is what the Freudian revolution in thought really ends up in and is the basic reason that we still strain against Freud We don’t want to admit that we arerevelation is what the Freudian revolution in thought really ends up in and is the basic reason that we still strain against Freud. We don’t want to admit that we are fundamentally dishonest about reality, that we do not really control our own lives. We don’t want to admit that we do not stand alone, that we always rely on something that transcends us, some system of ideas and powers in which we are embedded and which support us. This power is not always obvious. It need not be overtly a god or openly a stronger person, but it can be the power of an all-absorbing activity, a passion, a dedication to a game, a way of life, that like a comfortable web keeps a person buoyed up and ignorant of himself, of the fact that he does not rest on his own center. All of us are driven to be supported in a self-forgetful way, ignorant of what energies we really draw on, of the kind of lie we have fashioned in order to live securely and serenely. Augustine was a master analyst of this, as were Kierkegaard, Scheler, and Tillich in our day. They saw that man could strut and boast all he wanted, but that he really drew his “courage to be” from a god, a string of sexual conquests, a Big Brother, a flag, the proletariat, and the fetish of money and the size of a bank balance.
Human Character as a Vital Lie
The Denial of Death (1973)

Despair, Life, Confidence, Time

“Folks, this is a time of testing. We face an attack on our democracy and on truth. A raging virus, growing inequity, the sting of systemic racism, a climate in crisis. America′s role in the world. Any one of these would be enough to challenge us in profound ways. But the fact is, we face them all at once. Presenting this nation with one of the gravest responsibilities we′ve had. Now we′re going to be tested.Are we going to step up, all of us? It′s time for boldness, for there is so much to do. And this is certain. I promise you, we will be judged, you and I, by how we resolve these cascading crises of our era. We will rise to the occasion, is the question. Will we master this rare and difficult hour?”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2021, January, Presidential Inaugural Address (2021)

Democracy, Time, Question, World

“[T]ogether we shall write an American story of hope, not fear. Of unity, not division. Of light, not darkness. A story of decency and dignity, love and healing, greatness and goodness.May this be the story that guides us, the story that inspires us, and the story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history, we met the moment. Democracy and hope, truth and justice, did not die on our watch, but thrived, that America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world. That is what we owe our forebears, one another, and generations to follow.So, with purpose and resolve, we turn to those tasked of our time, sustained by faith, driven by conviction, and devoted to one another and the country we love with all our hearts. May God bless America and may God protect our troops. Thank you, America.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2021, January, Presidential Inaugural Address (2021)

Democracy, Home, God, Faith

“It is the purity of a truth of which you have had only a glimpse. This is the feast, and the tiny tidbits you tasted before, back there, had made you hope for the existence of the Whole. The nameless emotion, longing, nostalgia, sense of destiny that you felt back there when you stared at the cloud layered sunset in Hawaii, when you stood quietly among the tall, waving trees in the silent forest, when a musical selection, passage, or song recalled memories of the past or brought forth a longing for which there was no associated memory, when you longed for the place where you belonged, whether city, town, country, nation, or family—these are now fulfilled. You are Home. You are where you belong. Where you always should have been.”

Robert Monroe (1915–1995) American founder of The Monroe Institute

Journeys Out of the Body (1971), Chapter 8. Because the Bible Tells Me So

Home, Nostalgia, Tree, Family

“It should also be remembered that the Bible is written in the language of symbols, a special category of literature designed both to conceal and to reveal spiritual truths. Blindness is a symbol for temporary unawareness of spiritual light. The Christ partly represents spiritual intuitiveness. When one who is spiritually blind becomes intuitively awakened and active or, symbolically, enters the presence of the Christ and is healed by him, the scales are said to have fallen from his eyes. This I believe to be the true symbolical interpretation; for I look upon the story as one of the many beautiful miniature mystery dramas to be found in the Bible, portraying in allegory and symbol the soul’s awakening from darkness to light. Nevertheless, symbolism apart, the answer given by the Lord was, as stated above, doctrinally and technically correct.”

Geoffrey Hodson (1886–1983) New Zealand occultist

Reincarnation & Christianity (1967)

Soul, Light, Beauty, Christ

“The greatest degree of power which occult science can bestow is to be derived from knowledge of the unity and interaction between the Macrocosm and the microcosm, the Universe and man. “The mystery of the earthly and mortal man is after the mystery of the supernal and immortal One”, wrote Eliphas Levi. Lao Tzu also expresses this truth in his words: “The Universe is a man on a large scale.””

Geoffrey Hodson (1886–1983) New Zealand occultist

The Hidden Wisdom In The Holy Bible (1963), Volume III

Universe, Science, Knowledge

“Christians talk about the horror of sin, but they have overlooked something. They keep talking as if everyone were a great sinner, when the truth is that nowadays one is hardly up to it. There is very little sin in the depths of the malaise. The highest moment of a malaisian's life can be the moment when he manages to sin like a proper human”

Walker Percy book The Moviegoer

Look at us, Binx — my vagabond friends as good as cried out to me — we're sinning! We're succeeding! We're human after all!
The Moviegoer (1961)

Life

“...the great Book of Genesis—a marvellous cup filled with the “wine” of the esoteric knowledge of the Sanctuaries of ancient days. Temples of the Ageless Wisdom exist to-day, even if less easily discoverable, and in them are to be found the selfsame teachings, laws, successions, Initiations and radiations of the light of Truth. World changes are not reflected in the Mysteries, which are repositories and conveyors of eternal and unchanging Ideas. A sack of corn containing a silver cup awaits every Benjamin who finds himself called by a Hierophant (Joseph) from the “famine-stricken” outer world to the “storehouse” from which an elder brother (a Master) Who has already attained will, in prodigal abundance, supply a gift of the golden grain of eternal verities.”

Geoffrey Hodson (1886–1983) New Zealand occultist

The Hidden Wisdom In The Holy Bible (1963), Volume III

Law, Success, Light, Knowledge

“I love simplicity, I like people who know how to listen to music with their heart, feel the smells of life, capture their soul. Because there is truth there, there is sweetness... there is still love.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Amo la semplicità, mi piacciono le persone che sanno ascoltare musica con il cuore, sentire gli odori della vita, catturarne l'anima. Perché lì c'è verità, c'è dolcezza... lì c'è ancora amore.
Source: prevale.net

Soul, People, Heart, Music

“When one listens to your speeches it sounds as if you had always fought against capitalism. The truth is that it was you who gave all the power to capitalism. In this republic capitalism has grown as it had never before. You can think about the old state as you will, one thing is certain: it was not as rotten as the one you brought about! …
What shall one say when Reich president Ebert in his letters addresses the Jewish scoundrel Barmat as "My dear Barmat" and closes with the greeting "Yours Ebert?"”

Julius Streicher (1885–1946) German politician

Despite all the veneration that I feel for this man, whom by the way I respect more as a master saddle-maker than as a Reich president, I simply have to be astonished. Gentlemen, where is the "beauty and dignity"?
01/23/1925, speech in the Bavarian regional parliament ("Kampf dem Weltfeind", Stürmer publishing house, Nuremberg, 1938)
Original: Wenn man Euch reden hört, dann habt Ihr immer den Kapitalismus bekämpft. In Wirklichkeit habt Ihr den Kapitalismus erst in den Sattel gehoben. In dieser Republik hat sich der Kapitalismus ausgewachsen wie niemals zuvor. Mag man über den alten Staat denken wir man will, eines steht fest: so verlumpt war er nicht wie der, den Ihr uns gebracht habt! …
Was soll man dazu sagen, wenn ein Reichspräsident Ebert den jüdischen Schurken Barmat in Briefen mit "Mein lieber Barmat" anredet und ihn am Schlusse mit "Dein Ebert" grüßt? Bei aller Ehrfurcht, die ich vor dem Mann habe, den ich übrigens als Sattlermeister weit mehr schätze denn als Reichspräsident, muss ich mich doch sehr wundern. Meine Herren, wo ist da "Schönheit und Würde"?

Thinking

“There was no need to worry about religion or philosophy; the truth was determined by whoever was in power.”

John Twelve Hawks book The Traveler

Fourth Realm Trilogy (2005-2009), The Traveler (2005)

Religion

“No one I imagine is so stupid as to believe that truth or even an approximation of truth is derived from counting pieces of marked paper and that the largest pile of papers is it. What makes democracy so fragile is the certain knowledge, even by the winners, that it is often wrong and if they think it’s right now, then it’s either been wrong at some time in the past or will be at some time in the future. There is then a shaky agreement on both sides of a democratic debate that there is some more fundamental reason for using this method to make decisions than that it is always right. In Western Europe over the last century or so that shaky agreement has not always held together and indeed it still is far from ordinary worldwide. A common everyday reason why most people accept democratic results is that they are rarely always on the losing side. And in the case of government elections they can have another opportunity to persuade the majority that the opinion they hold is correct and hope that the mistakes of the previous few years are not so very bad. On a much deeper level however respecting the “will of the people” comes from a profoundly scary place.”

Justin Barrett (1971) Irish activist

A Republic of Innocent Dead Cannot Live https://nationalparty.ie/a-republic-of-innocent-dead-cannot-live/ (June 4, 2018)

Democracy, Imagination, Time, Past

“Film is 24 lies per second at the service of truth, or at the service of the attempt to find the truth.”

Michael Haneke (1942) Austrian film director and screenwriter

[Ignoramous, Lamos, Watch "24 Realities Per Second" Michael Haneke Documentary, http://filmslie.com/24-realities-per-second-michael-haneke-documentary/, FilmsLie.com, 10 August 2016]

“We have to face the fact that we are the descendants of apelike ancestors. The truth, at first sight, is often ugly and repulsive to our personal feelings, but when it is the truth, its ultimate effects on us are always salutary. ...
... Man's brain does not stand as a thing apart; it is the culmination of an ascending series. There is no part of it and no function manifested by it that cannot be traced to humble beginnings lower in the animal scale. And what we postulate for man's brain we must in all justice apply to that of the ape, the dog, and all other beasts.”

Arthur Keith (1866–1955) anatomy, anthropology, geologist

[Chapter X, Living Philosophies, 149, 1931, Simon & Schuster]

Justice, Personality, Dogs, Animals

“The truth is that the connection of Ireland with England has been full of trouble, and I fear there is no remedy. ... It is a chronic disease, and even if it is not to be cured we have proved in the past that we can get on with it and yet carry on our Empire to a vast pitch of prosperity. What has been done in the past can be done in the future. ... [D]o not let us attempt to cure it by a measure which will put this island into a condition which never during 700 years of our history has existed—which will hand over those who have had the courage to defend us to the maltreatment of their worst enemies, and which will establish at our very doors a post—a hostile post—which will be at the pleasure of any foreign power which may sometimes be hostile to us.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

Speech to a banquet of the Merchant Taylors' Company, London (10 May 1886), quoted in The Times (11 May 1886), p. 12
1880s

Courage, Hostility, History, Past

“Do the essences of proposition and of the truth determine themselves from out of the essence of the thing, or does the essence of the thing determine itself from out of the essence of the proposition? The question is posed as an either/or. However does this either/or itself suffice? Are the essence of the thing and the essence of the proposition only built as mirror images because both of them together determine themselves from out of the same but deeper lying root? However, what and where can be this common ground for the essence of the thing and of the proposition and of their origin? The unconditioned (Unbedingt)? We stated at the beginning that what conditions the essense of the thing in its thingness can no longer itself be thing and conditioned, it must be an unconditioned (Un-bedingtes). p. 47”

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) German philosopher

What Is A Thing? (1935, 1968)

Lying, Question

“Here is the chalk." This is a truth; and here and the now hereby characterize the chalk so that we emphasize by saying; the chalk, which means "this." We take a scrap of paper and we write the truth down: "Here is the chalk.”

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) German philosopher

We lay this written statement beside the thing of which it is the truth. After the lecture is finished both doors are opened, the classroom is aired, there will be a draft, and the scrap of paper, let us suppose, will flutter out into the corridor. A student finds it on his way to the cafeteria, reads the sentence. "Here is the chalk," and ascertains that this is not true at all. Through the draft the truth has become an untruth. Strange that a truth should depend on a gust of wind. ... We have made the truth about the chalk independent of us and entrusted it to a scrap of paper. p. 29-30
What Is A Thing? (1935, 1968)

“I believe that nature and art can express one of the fundamental mysterious truths of life, equal to all of us.”

Giovanni Morassutti (1980) Italian actor, theatre director and cultural entrepreneur.

Life, Nature, Art

“If you are looking for a sense of justice, that’s not what I’m doing. I’m telling many truths. I don’t have to represent.”

Dael Orlandersmith (1959) American actress and writer

On incorporating various perspectives in her works in “Dael Orlandersmith Is a Poet of Life’s Complexity” https://www.americantheatre.org/2015/12/11/dael-orlandersmith-is-a-poet-of-lifes-complexity/ in American Theatre (2015 Dec 11)

Sense, Justice

“Myths are the unbelievable truth.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy (2016)

“From the first place of liquid darkness, within the second
place of air and light, I set down the following record
with its mixture of fact and truths and memories of truths
and its direction always toward the Third Place, where
the starting point is myth.”

Janet Frame (1924–2004) New Zealand author

To the Is-land, chap. 1, ‘‘In the Second Place’’, 1982

Light, Memory

“Sentiment changes. Truth is eternal.”

Liu Yiming

Change

“I am the Truth.”

Mansur Al-Hallaj (858–922) Persian mystic, revolutionary writer and teacher of Sufism

Ana al-Haqq
As quoted in From Primitives to Zen : A Thematic Sourcebook of the History of Religions (1967) by Mircea Eliade, p. 523; this is the primary assertion for which he was condemned as a heretic. "al-Haqq" ("The Truth") is one of the most holy names and attributes of Allah (God), and by this statement his persecutors asserted that Al Hallaj was claiming to be God.

“Believe those who seek the truth, doubt those who find it; doubt all, but do not doubt yourself.”

André Gide (1869–1951) French novelist and essayist

Ainsi soit-il; ou, Les Jeux sont faits
So be it; or, The chips are down
Gallimard
1952
174
Original: (fr) Croyez ceux qui cherchent la vérité, doutez de ceux qui la trouvent; doutez de tout, mais ne doutez pas de vous-même.

“The people who have sufficient passion for the truth to give the truth a chance to prevail, if it runs counter to their bias, are in a minority. How important is this "minority?"”

Leó Szilárd (1898–1964) Physicist and biologist

It is difficult to say at this point, for, at the present time their influence on governmental decisions is not perceptible.
Are We on the Road to War?

Passion, Chance, People

“The truth is, no study is possible on the battle-field; one does there simply what one can in order to apply what one knows.”

Ferdinand Foch (1851–1929) French soldier and military theorist

Therefore, in order to do even a little, one has already to know a great deal and to know it well.
Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 175

Study

“When the minister leaves the seminary, he is not seeking the truth. He has it.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

He has a revelation from God, and he has a creed in exact accordance with that revelation. His business is to stand by that revelation and to defend that creed. Arguments against the revelation and the creed he will not read, he will not hear. All facts that are against his religion he will deny.
The Truth (1896)

“And that's the truth!”

Lily Tomlin (1939) American actress, comedian, writer, and producer

Closing line of her skits as "Edith Ann", on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1969 - 1973), and in later productions.

“All of us are responsible for the communication we make, for the information we share, for the control that we can exert over fake news by exposing it. All of us are to be witnesses of the truth: to go, to see and to share.”

Felix Femi Ajakaye (1962) Nigerian catholic priest

National Unrest: Address the nation now – Catholic Bishop tells Buhari https://dailypost.ng/2021/05/16/national-unrest-address-the-nation-now-catholic-bishop-tells-buhari/ (May 16, 2021)

Making love, Communication

“It’s the word of God. It’s in the Bible. You can choose, and God’s given us the ability to choose to reject that or not. But it is truth.”

Greg Steube (1978) U.S. Representative from Florida

Rep. Greg Steube Rejects Democrat Colleagues’ Dismissal of Scripture:’ It’s Pertinent to the Discussion’ https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/03/02/rep-greg-steube-rejects-democrat-colleagues-dismissal-of-scripture-its-pertinent-to-the-discussion/ (2 March 2021)

God

“God is in command of history. Each crisis has something to teach us; each crisis is overcome by particular virtues and by reference to particular truths. The way out of a crisis is often unexpected, and often combines a decisive historical intervention by God, and a new spirit in the Church, animating new movements and new thinking. With hindsight we can even see in some cases how the crisis itself solved intractable problems which could not be solved in any other way”

Joseph Shaw (academic) (1971) British academic

Interview with Dr. Joseph Shaw https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/fetzen-fliegen/item/5036-interview-with-dr-joseph-shaw (August 28, 2020)

God, History, Animals, Problem

“The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. Most people, sometime in their lives, stumble across truth. Most jump up, brush themselves off, and hurry on about their business, as if nothing happened.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

As quoted in, but without a documented source: Joseph Romanella (2012): Adam's Dream: Is Everything We Think, Believe, and Perceive Real—or Is It All Imaginary? https://books.google.de/books?id=vjQvJ1EITDkC&pg=PR30&lpg=PR30&dq=The+truth+is+incontrovertible.+Malice+may+attack+it,+ignorance+may+deride+it,+but+in+the+end,+there+it+is.+source&source=bl&ots=2z1rN6iBG6&sig=ACfU3U20jzEJtXfaAFYwx1K2zhzOOFzkog&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQuemItuLpAhUNxqYKHR_LDccQ6AEwAnoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=The%20truth%20is%20incontrovertible.%20Malice%20may%20attack%20it%2C%20ignorance%20may%20deride%20it%2C%20but%20in%20the%20end%2C%20there%20it%20is.%20source&f=false, page xxx. ISBN: 978-1-4525-0823-8 (sc). ISBN: 978-1-4525-0824-5 (e). Bloomington, Indiana, United States of America: Balboa Press, a division of Hay House. Disputed

Business, People

“An important assumption underlying our commitment to freedom of expression is that truth is a process, not a product.”

Alan M. Dershowitz (1938) American lawyer, author

Source: Shouting Fire: Civil liberties in a Turbulent Age (2002), p. 149

Freedom

“But one thing I can promise you is this: I will always tell you the truth. I speak the truth for all of you, and for everyone in this country who doesn’t have a voice.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Quoted by [Three years ago today: Trump promised “I will always tell you the truth”, Jon, Perr, August 18, 2019, January 16, 2021, Daily Kos, https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/18/1879762/-Three-years-ago-today-Trump-promised-I-will-always-tell-you-the-truth]).
2016, August 2016

Country

“There may be, and there ought to be, progress in the moral sphere. The moral truths which we have inherited from the past need to be expanded and restated. In times of misfortune we require for our support something of which the truth is beyond all question, in which we can put an implicit trust, " though the heavens should fall."”

Felix Adler (1851–1933) German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, and lecturer

A merely borrowed belief is, at such time, like a rotten plank across a raging torrent. The moment we step upon it, it gives way beneath our feet.
Section 9 : Ethical Outlook
Life and Destiny (1913)

Time, Question, Support, Past

“Do not treat me in this fashion. Don't leave me out. Have I not
Always spoken the truth in my books? And now
You treat me like a liar! I order you:
Burn me!”

Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) German poet, playwright, theatre director

A response to the Nazi book burnings, "The Burning of the Books"

Fashion, Books

“How often a person, having inclined his ears to the holy verses, would bow down in humility and would embrace the Truth, while his leader would not do so. Thus every individual must bear his own responsibility, rather than someone else bearing it for him.”

Báb book Persian Bayán

IV, 18
Persian Bayán

Personality

“Sometimes in our activist and production-oriented American society and culture we succumb to pragmatism looking at the Christian life and our sharing in the apostolic mission of the Church as a matter being able to “do” things for Christ, the Church or others. In fact, the Christian life is a gift and a call to truth and love given to us by God. It is first a matter of "being," of simply existing as a person created by God and redeemed by him in Christ. We live out this truth and love in specific ways according to our age, talents, and unique vocation. At no point are the sacraments about what we have done or promise to do for God. They are God's free gift of grace to us. At the same time, these gifts of love entail an obligation to bear witness to God's love in word and deed by our collaboration in freedom with the grace given.”

Álvaro Corrada del Río (1942) Puerto Rican Catholic bishop

Pastoral Reflection on the Sacrament of Confirmation http://www.americancatholicpress.org/Bishop_Corrada_Pastoral_Reflecton%20_on_Confirmation.html (October 7, 2005)

God, Time, Freedom, Personality

“Most of us have managed to hang on to a few good friends. They may not be battle buddies, but they've found a way to stay in our lives, and we're in theirs for the long haul. When that's the case, we have certain responsibilities to them. Sometimes we have the pleasure of applauding their accomplishments or sharing happy occasions with them. But, when necessary, we also owe it to them to be truth-tellers. And we have to hope they'll be equally straightforward with us.”

William G. Boykin (1948) Recipient of the Purple Heart medal

Source: Man to Man: Rediscovering Masculinity in a Challenging World (2020), p. 119

Pleasure, Way, Happiness, Hope

“Each vulgar opinion, proved to be erroneous, is an approximation to truth.”

Georg Forster book A Voyage Round the World

Book I, ch. II, The Passage from Madeira to the Cape Verd Islands, and from thence to the Cape of Good Hope.
A Voyage Round the World (1777)

“The chief blessings of human nature are the three following:—TRUTH—VIRTUE—and LIBERTY.—These are, therefore, the blessings in the possession of which the interest of our country lies, and to the attainment of which our love of it ought to direct our endeavours. By the diffusion of KNOWLEDGE it must be distinguished from a country of Barbarians: by the practice of religious VIRTUE, it must be distinguished from a country of gamblers, Atheists, and libertines: and by the possession of LIBERTY, it must be distinguished from a country of slaves.”

Richard Price (1721–1791) Welsh nonconformist preacher and radical

Source: A Discourse on the Love of Our Country (1789), p. 11

Knowledge, Country, Love, Making love

“Wisdom is found only in truth.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician

Wisdom

“If you seek truth you will not seek victory by dishonourable means, and if you find truth you will become invincible.”

Epictetus (50–138) philosopher from Ancient Greece

Victory

“The beginning of wisdom is found in doubting; by doubting we come to the question, and by seeking we may come upon the truth.”

Peter Abelard (1079–1142) French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician

Variant: The key to wisdom is this - constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.

Question, Wisdom

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”

Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism

Sun

“Friendship at first sight, like love at first sight, is said to be the only truth.”

Herman Melville (1818–1891) American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet

Friendship, Love, Friendship, For Friend

“Truth, and goodness, and beauty are but different faces of the same all.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Beauty

“A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

Error

“Whenever you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish physician and author

“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.”

Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism

Way

“The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new.”

Pema Chödron (1936) American philosopher

“There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth.”

Chanakya (-375–-283 BC) Ancient Indian statesman and philosopher

Friendship

“It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell your friend his faults. So to love a man that you cannot bear to see a stain upon him, and to speak painful truth through loving words, that is friendship.”

Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) American clergyman and activist

Pain, Friendship, Love

“The only way to tell the truth is to speak with kindness. Only the words of a loving man can be heard.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

Way, Love

“It is easy to criticize the "fanaticism" of our ancestors when one has lost the very notion of saving truth, or to be "tolerant" when one derides religion.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

[2006, Light on the Ancient Worlds, World Wisdom, 9, 978-0-941532-72-3]
Miscellaneous, Modernity

Religion

“Truth like everything else should be economised.”

C. P. Scott (1846–1932) British journalist, publisher and politician

Attributed by Malcolm Muggeridge in his suppressed novel Picture Palace (1934), quoted in The Political Diaries of C. P. Scott, 1911–1928, ed. Trevor Wilson (1970), p. 27
Attributed

“Religion translates metaphysical or universal truths into dogmatic language; now though dogma is not accessible to all men in its intrinsic truth, which can only be directly attained by the Intellect, it is nonetheless accessible through faith, which is, for the great majority, the only possible mode of participation in the Divine Truths. As for intellectual knowledge, which proceeds neither from belief nor from a process of reasoning, it goes beyond dogma in the sense that, without ever contradicting the latter, it penetrates its internal dimension, that is, the infinite Truth that dominates all forms.”

Frithjof Schuon book The Transcendent Unity of Religions

[1993, The Transcendent Unity of Religions, Quest Books, xxxi, 978-0-8356-0587-8]
Miscellaneous, Religion

Knowledge, Sense, Men, Universe

“It is as much an error to take truth for lies, as lies for truth.”

Lois McMaster Bujold book The Hallowed Hunt

Source: World of the Five Gods series, The Hallowed Hunt (2005), Chapter 8 (p. 134)

Error

“I have always loved truth so passionately that I have often resorted to lying as a way of first introducing it into minds which were ignorant of its charms.”

Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice

History of My Life (trans. Trask 1967), 1997 reprint, Preface, p. 34
Referenced

Lying, Way, Passion, Love

“A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth. For example: Four guys go down a trail. A grenade sails out. One guy jumps on it and takes the blast, but it's a killer grenade and everybody dies anyway. Before they die, though, one of the dead guys says, "The fuck you do that for?"”

Tim O'Brien book The Things They Carried

and the jumper says, "Story of my life, man" and other guys start to smile but he's dead. That's a true story that never happened.
The Things They Carried (1990), How to Tell a True War Story

Lie, Dead, Guy

“God-sent are all religions blest;
And Christ, the Way, the Truth, the Life,
To give the heavy laden rest
And peace from sorrow, sin, and strife.”

Max Heindel (1865–1919) American asrologer and occultist

Creed or Christ (1909)

God, Peace, Religion, Christ

“Christianity is again demonstrating the Life that is Truth, and the Truth that is Life”

Mary Baker Eddy book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

Source: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 97

Life

“God's truth and faithfulness "are a great deep."”

Richard Fuller (minister) (1804–1876) United States Baptist minister

They resemble the ocean itself; always there — vast, fathomless, sublime, the same in its majesty, its inexhaustible fullness, yesterday, to-day, and forever; the same in calm and storm, by day and by night; changeless while generations come and pass; everlasting while ages are rolling away.
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 261.

God, Faith

“Being a person who constantly tells the truth means being a simple, free, true, concrete and transparent person. Also, it means being a person who makes his life easier.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Essere una persona che racconta costantemente la verità significa essere una persona semplice, libera, vera, concreta e trasparente. Inoltre, significa essere una persona che si semplifica la vita.
Source: prevale.net

Personality, Life

“Telling the truth about the past helps cause justice in the present.”

James W. Loewen (1942) American historian

Justice, Past, Help

“In reality, there is no truth in socialism, because it has never worked. Still smarting from the hard lessons of history, today's Marxist socialists have learned to swiftly bury truth and any truth-seekers, before they can become entombed themselves.”

L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer

“No Truth in Socialism: Why the ‘Crisis of Marxism’ Matters” https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/08/no_truth_in_socialism_why_the_crisis_of_marxism_matters.html American Thinker (Aug. 7, 2021)

History, Learning, Reality

“I leave to the oppressors of humanity a terrible testament, which I proclaim with the independence befitting one whose career is so nearly ended; it is the awful truth: “Thou shalt die!””

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

Last Speech to the National Convention (26 July 1794)

“Error is the force that welds men together; truth is communicated to men only by deeds of truth. Only deeds of truth, by introducing light into the conscience of each individual, can dissolve the cohesion of error, and detach men one by one from the mass united together by the cohesion of error.”

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian writer

My Religion (1884), Ch. 12

Light, Communication, Error, Men

“The search for Truth is not about running away from the things of this world but about understanding their ephemeral nature. And more than that, it is about discovering our true nature as an inherent stillness from where even the subtlest movements of phenomena are being perceived.”

Mooji (1954) Jamaican spiritual teacher

Greater than Sky, Vaster than Space, (2018), Part I

Understanding, Search, Nature, World

“Spirituality is the search for perfect understanding, for Self-discovery, for Truth, and it must take place right where you are. The Truth that you are searching for must already be right here, for it is timelessly present.”

Mooji (1954) Jamaican spiritual teacher

Greater than Sky, Vaster than Space, (2018), Part I

Understanding, Search, Perfection

“When we walk away from communion with the Church, what are we saying to the Jesus Who entrusted His words and His sacraments to her bishops and saints? Has His promise to be with His Church to the end of the world ceased to be true? Can He Who is The Truth be entangled in a tissue of lies?”

Liam Cary (1947) Fifth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baker

The Dark Sea of Scandal https://www.dioceseofbaker.org/documents/2019/2/100718.pdf (October 7, 2018)

World

“Everything is a projection of our mind! We can decide how we want to be. It is all in the mind. With the help of our mind, we have stopped the flow of bliss from within. That is the truth.”

Nithyananda (1978) Indian guru

Guaranteed Solutions

Help

“The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.”

David Graeber book The Utopia of Rules

The Utopia of Rules (2015)

World

“You tell the truth and you depict it in detail.”

Natalie Goldberg book Writing Down the Bones

Foreword to the 2nd Edition (December 2004), by Natalie Goldberg. p.xxiii
Writing Down the Bones (1986)

“The lie that crossed our minds that African Gods are small Gods, thank our Gods that they were not refered to as Satan but rather Gods. The truth of the matter is that we have many Gods unlike the colonizer -Edy kasawuli”

Edykasawuli7

God, Lie

“With Puritanism as the constant check upon American life, neither truth nor sincerity is possible. Nothing but gloom and mediocrity to dictate human conduct, curtail natural expression, and stifle our best impulses.”

Emma Goldman book Anarchism and Other Essays

Anarchism and Other Essays (1910), The Hypocrisy of Puritanism

Sincerity, Nature, Life

“We cannot accept turning perpetrators and those responsible for committing cruel crimes against both innocent people and invaded countries into victims. Together - in the name of those who perished and for the good of our common future - we must preserve the truth.”

Mateusz Morawiecki (1968) Prime Minister of Poland

"Statement by the Prime minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki" https://www.gov.pl/web/diplomacy/statement-by-the-prime-minister-of-poland-mateusz-morawiecki (29 December 2019)

People, Country, Future

“People are not to be blamed for their doubts, but that they make no effort to arrive at the truth.”

William Henry Davies book The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp

Source: The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (1908), Ch. XXXIV

Effort, People

“Two lives, living two lives
I don't know which side of me is
where the truth lies
I'm living two lives, living two lives
I got two sides of me try'n'a do right
I got one on each shoulder
both saying "I told ya"
One is saying "Go"
and the other's saying "No, no, no."”

Example (musician) (1982) English rapper and singer

"Two Lives" (song) ("Two Lives", Official video on YouTube)) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn60dbD0CsE (+ "Two Lives", a lyrics version on YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLKlbUZYd_o Studio albums, Won't Go Quietly (2010)

“If some people in power here were to think, oh no you’re smaller and you’re weaker, my job is to take care of you, then might not be a bad place. It is simplistic, but I think there is some truth in that.”

Yasmin Ahmad (1958–2009) Malaysian film director

discussing humility and power dynamics in art, filmmaking, screenwriting, Malaysia and the World TEDxKuala Lumpur - TEDxKL - Yasmin Ahmad - 6/3/09 at 9 Min 42 Sec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_f_3FiiTYk - 30 July 2009 - Archive http://archive.today/2015.06.30-222010/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_f_3FiiTYk The Star Newspaper Article with TedxKL Link - 7 TED Talks that Malaysians should check out https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/people/2016/07/19/seven-ted-talks-that-malaysians-should-really-check-out/ - 19 July 2016 - Archive http://archive.today/2021.08.21-082901/https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/people/2016/07/19/seven-ted-talks-that-malaysians-should-really-check-out/ From Yasmin Ahmad

People, Thinking

“All the knowledge seekers must pray like this: 'Oh The Creator! Open our eyes to see the truth. Our ears to hear Your Commands and obey with a steadfast heart. Amen!”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Heart, Knowledge

“May God forgive you for telling the truth to those who are not ready to hear it.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Forgiveness, God

“The truth about respect is that, you can't respect nor disrespect yourself!”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“The truth is that, reality matter more than imaginary things—Your perceptions and concepts of the world doesn't contribute anything to anyone.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Reality, World

“The truth is that: We are unhappy married and unmarried we're unhappy. In marriage you must first endure, pity and then embrace.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Marriage

“The truth, or rather, reality is far from any human can ever reach.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Reality

“The definition of the word truth is that, you know what you know and what you don't know.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“The truth is beautiful only for those who want to hear it. Bitter for criminals and indifferent to the ignorant.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Indifference, Beauty

“The truth is infinite. Whatever you know is only useful to your survival and protective to your senses.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Sense

“The truth lose its beauty once it's visible before your eyes.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Beauty

“The wise man must become a friend of the truth, not a fanatic of the concepts that are believed by many to be true only.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“We believe whenever we don't know the truth.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“I believe as firmly as I believe any other historical truth—that no nation ever suffered so much from another nation as the Irish have suffered from the English—or for so long a time.”

William Smith O'Brien (1803–1864) Irish nationalist politician (1803-1864)

14 January letter to John Martin: 14, Correspondence between John Martin and William Smith O'Brien relative to a French invasion, 1861 https://books.google.com/books?id=uioenbWx30MC&pg=PA14,

Time, Suffering

“God reveals the truth behind the languages of the Quran to those whom He loves and who are true Sufis.”

Abu Nasr as-Sarraj

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004), p. 82

God, Love

“I do believe that character is a process, that truth is a process, and I am not interested in winning and losing…”

Anna Deavere Smith (1950) American actress, playwright and professor

On character building in “Wearing the Words: An Interview with Anna Deavere Smith” https://tricycle.org/magazine/wearing-words-interview-anna-deavere-smith/ in the Buddhist Review (Fall 1994)

“I gave up caring about anything, and all the problems disappeared.
And it was after that that I found out the truth. I learnt the truth last November — on the third of November, to be precise — and I remember every instant since.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky book The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

Source: General, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877), I

Problem

Quotes about the truth page 79

Quotes about the truth
page 79