Quotes about the truth
page 80

“I have never in my life met a man like him for noble simplicity, and boundless truthfulness. I understood from the way he talked that anyone who chose could deceive him, and that he would forgive anyone afterwards who had deceived him, and that was why I grew to love him.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky book The Idiot

General, The Idiot (1868–9)

Forgiveness, Way, Love, Life

“Revealing the truth to the public requires layers of checking and multiple source verification. Good journalism can safeguard interests and foster changes of rules.”

Hu Shuli (1953) Chinese journalist

As quoted in "HU SHULI: The Hard-Earned Right to Report" in Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (14 November 2016) https://www.rmaward.asia/rmtli/hu-shuli-the-hard-earned-right-to-report/

Change

“The truth is respectful opposition is not the enemy, it’s an important part of a health a democracy.”

Peadar Tóibín (1974) Irish politician

Peadar Tóibín to host Waterford meeting about new party https://www.wlrfm.com/2019/01/21/peadar-toibin-to-host-waterford-meeting-about-new-party/ (January 21, 2019)

Democracy, Health, Parting

“It is appropriate to distinguish between a knowledge that is active and mental, namely doctrinal discernment, by which we become conscious of the Truth, and a knowledge that is passive, receptive and cardiac, namely invocatory contemplation, by which we assimilate what we have become aware of.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

[2012, Echoes of Perennial Wisdom, World Wisdom, 50, 978-1-93659700-0]
Spiritual path, Knowledge

Knowledge

“Wisdom consists not only in knowing truths and being able to communicate them, but also in the sage’s capacity to recognize the most subtle limitations or hazards of human nature.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

[2008, Christianity / Islam, World Wisdom, 141, 978-1-933316-49-9]
Spiritual path, Wisdom

Wisdom, Communication, Nature

“Esoteric truth is a two-edged sword: there are men who lose God because they are ignorant of this truth, which alone would save them, and there are others who think they understand it and forge for themselves an illusory and arrogant faith, which they put practically in place of God.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

[2007, Spiritual Perspectives and Human Facts, World Wisdom, 80, 978-1-933316-42-0]
Spiritual path, Esoterism

God, Faith, Understanding, Thinking

“In the elementary sense of the word, faith is our assent to a truth that transcends us; but spiritually speaking, it is our assent, not to transcendent concepts, but to immanent realities, or to Reality as such; now this Reality is our very substance.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

[2019, Esoterism as Principle and as Way, World Wisdom, 234, 978-1-93659765-9]
Spiritual life, Faith

Faith, Sense, Reality

“What the virtues are to existential perfection, truths are to intellectual perfection; virtue is essentially simplicity, inward beauty, generosity, whereas truth, for its part, lies entirely in the discernment between the Real and the illusory or between the Absolute and the contingent.”

Frithjof Schuon book The Transfiguration of Man

[2005, The Transfiguration of Man, World Wisdom, 72, 978-0-94153219-8]
Spiritual life, Truth

Beauty, Perfection, Parting

“Truth and Holiness: all values are in these two terms; all that we must love and all that we must be.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

[2003, Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism, World Wisdom, 224, 978-0-94153227-3]
Spiritual life, Truth

Love

“Truth is the raison d’être for man’s existence; it constitutes our grandeur and reveals to us our smallness.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

[2012, Echoes of Perennial Wisdom, World Wisdom, 34, 978-1-93659700-0]
Spiritual life, Truth

“Beauty is a reflection of divine beatitude; and since God is Truth, the reflection of His beatitude will be that blend of happiness and truth found in all beauty.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

[2007, Spiritual Perspectives and Human Facts, World Wisdom, 24, 978-1-933316-42-0]
God, Beauty

God, Beauty, Happiness

“Love of God is firstly the attachment of the intelligence to the Truth, then the attachment of the will to the Good, and finally the attachment of the soul to the Peace that is given by the Truth and the Good.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

[2012, Echoes of Perennial Wisdom, World Wisdom, 9, 978-1-93659700-0]
God, Reverential fear and love

Soul, God, Peace, Intelligence

“Which do you pay dearer for, lies or the truth?
The former costs you yourself, the latter at most your happiness.”

Christian Friedrich Hebbel (1813–1863) German poet and dramatist

"Epigrams" in Sämtliche Werke, volume 6, page 365
Original: (de) Was du teurer bezahlst, die Lüge oder die Wahrheit?
Jene kostet dein Ich, diese doch höchstens dein Glück.

Happiness

“Pop, who maintained that a wise man could not be insulted, since truth could not insult and untruth was not worthy of notice.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Citizen of the Galaxy

Source: Citizen of the Galaxy (1957), Chapter 10 (p. 108)

“Truth, high-seated upon its rock of adamant, is alone eternal and supreme.”

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky book Isis Unveiled

Isis Unveiled (1877), Vol. I Preface

“This time can be seen as a time when we are experiencing the birth pains of new civilization... It's not me. It's the power of the inner truth of the story. It's an honor... a privilege.”

Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) artist, author, esotericist

The State of the World 2010, public lecture in New York City, USA, (July 2010)

Pain, Time, Birth

“I became a scientist because... it's like panning for gold in a muddy torrent. Truth is the gold.”

David Mitchell book Cloud Atlas

"Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery", p. 133
Cloud Atlas (2004), Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery (Part 1)

“The search for necessary truths, truths that are not only true, but they couldn’t have been false.”

Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000) Philosopher

In the Veery journal interview in 1996, in reply to the question of "What is the most rewarding aspect of philosophy?" presented by Veery editor Steven Vita, later reprinted in 1997 in the Austin American-Statesman and then quoted from in The New York Times obituary entitled “Charles Hartshorne, Theologian, Is Dead; Proponent of an Activist God Was 103.”

Falseness, Search

“Many of the most profound truths come not in shouting and scandal but, rather, in a whisper. In our noisy world, they are easily missed or dismissed.”

Arthur C. Brooks (1964) American policy analyst and musician

" Individuality Is an Illusion, https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/02/dalai-lama-gentle-transgressive-individuality-happiness/617901/" The Atlantic (04 February 2021)

World

“A bird's-eye view does not see the truth.”

Bernard MacLaverty (1942) Irish writer

Source: Novels, Lamb (1980), Ch.17 - p.145

Bird

“I think the only responsibility that writers have is to our own truth. If that happens to merge with contemporary issues, then yes, write that truth. But what we are haunted by is not a thing we choose. And that choice is most certainly not made by the latest headlines.”

Shobha Rao

On whether writers have the responsibility to write about contemporary issues in “‘I can’t think of a happier story’: Shobha Rao talks GIRLS BURN BRIGHTER” https://www.booklistreader.com/2018/03/06/books-and-authors/i-cant-think-of-a-happier-story-shobha-rao-talks-girls-burn-brighter/ in Booklist Reader (2018 Mar 6)

Thinking

“Most people go through life never knowing the truth about the major events of their time. They're watching a farce performed at the edge of the stage while the real drama is going on behind the curtain.”

John Twelve Hawks book The Traveler

Source: Fourth Realm Trilogy (2005-2009), The Traveler (2005), Ch. 31

People, Life, Time

“If I were a metaphor I'd be a truth. I am invincible, I am never defeated. I am immortal, I never die, I'm invisible, nobody can cut me, I am for eternity, I have no end, I am a stone's line, no one can erase me, the time can change, but i never change, I'm the truth, no one can deny me.”

Shabdon Ka Jahan

Change, Time

“I don't have a big mouth, you know what I have, I have a mouth that tells the truth.”

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

2021, September 2021 <br class="br">Source: "Trump says he has 'a mouth that tells the truth' while making false statements at Georgia rally" https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-says-has-mouth-tells-truth-while-lying-georgia-rally-2021-9?r=US&IR=T, Insider, 26 September 2021 <br class="br">Context: They want to go after me because I have, they think, a big mouth.

“The spirit manifests itself to a warrior at every turn. However, this is not the entire truth. The entire truth is that the spirit reveals itself to everyone with the same intensity and consistency, but only warriors are consistently attuned to such revelations.”

Carlos Castaneda book The Wheel of Time

Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from "The Power of Silence" (Chapter 18)

“Truth is a discredited commodity among diplomats.”

Isaac Asimov book The Currents of Space

Source: Empire novels (1950–1952), The Currents of Space (1952), Chapter 6 “The Ambassador” (p. 64)

“Always tell the truth, even if it should make him jump out of his shoe.”

Jules Van Praet (1806–1887) Belgian diplomat

Source: All the King's Men' A search for the colonial ideas of some advisers and "accomplices" of Leopold II (1853-1892). (Hannes Vanhauwaert), 4. Viceroys without colonial aspirations? Jules Van Praet (1806-1887) http://www.ethesis.net/leopold_II/leopold_II.htm#2.%20 He certainly did not play his role of chief of staff to the king as that of a submissive slave: this is apparent from a preserved quote from him in Bruges in which he was determined to be his king. VIAENE, V. “Leopold I, Belgian Diplomacy and the Culture of the European Concert, 1831-1865”, 130. Van Praet then rebelled against the fact that Leopold I had already had several mistresses there, which according to the private secretary was detrimental to the popularity of the monarchy.

Shoe

“How many generations need to comply in a fallacy before it becomes accepted as truth?”

Michael Moorcock The Cornelius Quartet

The Cornelius Quartet, The Condition of Muzak (1977)
Source: The BL 755 cluster bomb (p. 652)

“You can take my freedom, even my life, but not my thought, not my truth, not my contribution to the history of the people to which I belong.”

Franjo Tuđman (1922–1999) Croatian politician, soldier and president

Source: "Excerpts from his diary, written while in prison" https://www.tudjman.hr/promisljanja/ (14 August 1984)

History, Freedom, People, Life

“The truth is, the lives of activists are much more complicated than what the novel presented. My father was not a regular man nor a regular father. He gave himself to his cause, and our relationship was forged by distance. There is no resentment. The world needs people like my father.”

Ti-Anna Wang (1989) Chinese dissident

"Daughter of imprisoned Chinese activist inspires ‘Nine Days’ by Fred Hiatt, a book about their plight" in The Washington Post https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TAgbvFpO2-kJ:https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/daughter-of-imprisoned-chinese-activist-inspires-nine-days-by-fred-hiatt-a-book-about-their-plight/2013/04/05/67b339d0-9e03-11e2-a2db-efc5298a95e1_story.html+&cd=12&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us (5 April 2013)

People, World

“I object to the suppression of the truth. I think the injustice of not being able to bring light to the situation dissolves all equitable application of the rule of law.”

Paul Gosar (1958) American politician and dentist

Appealing for Tommy Robinson on Twitter, as quoted in * 2018-07-19
Ronald J. Hansen
The Arizona Republic
Paul Gosar takes up for U.K. anti-Muslim activist, is accused of aiding a bigot.
Source: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2018/07/19/paul-gosar-takes-up-anti-muslim-activist-accused-aiding-bigot/798818002/

Light, Law, Thinking

“Men personalize good and evil in a multiplicity of gods and devils, but Truth students follow Jesus in recognizing the supreme Spirit in man as the "one God and Father of all."”

Charles Fillmore (1854–1948) American mystic

Source: Mysteries Of John (1946)

God, Personality, Evil, Men

“Truth is the ultimate end of the whole universe.”

Thomas Aquinas Summa contra Gentiles

Source: Summa contra Gentiles (1259–1265) I, 1, 2

Universe

“I think that individual voices are not as strong as a community of voices. If we can make a community of voices, then we can speak more truth. Also in a community, we learn to listen…”

Maxine Hong Kingston (1940) Chinese American author

Source: On the strength of a community in “’I Can Write My Shadow’: Alexis Cheung Interviews Maxine Hong Kingston” https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/can-write-shadow-alexis-cheung-interviews-maxine-hong-kingston/ in Los Angeles Review of Books (2016 Dec 22)

Strong, Learning, Communication, Thinking

“My dream is to write with both pens, in English and Chinese. I want to be more truthful and more straightforward when I write in English.”

Geling Yan (1958) Chinese writer and screenwriter

Source: "Chinese writer finds freedom in English" in Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-literature-yan-interview/chinese-writer-finds-freedom-in-english-idUSTRE53M00D20090423 (22 April 2009)

Dreams

“It is good to remember that the administration of justice is only just when it is exercised in conformity with the truth and the moral good.”

Juan Alberto Puiggari (1949) Argentine archbishop

Source: Argentinean bishop condemns mid term abortion, stresses that Church 'cannot remain silent' https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/20011/argentinean-bishop-condemns-mid-term-abortion-stresses-that-church-cannot-remain-silent (17 June 2010)

Justice, Exercises

“The truth is, models are freaks of nature. We are not normal people, and we're just born this way because of a genetic cocktail that our parents gave to us. You know, most of us have a really high metabolism.”

Padma Lakshmi (1970) Indian-born American author, actress, model, television host and executive producer

Source: "Padma Lakshmi, Model, Actor And TV Host, Says Above All, She's A Writer" in NPR https://www.npr.org/2020/09/04/909583983/padma-lakshmi-model-actor-and-tv-host-says-above-all-shes-a-writer (4 September 2020)

People, Nature, Parent, Way

“This remarkable feat merely reaffirms what most of us in molecular biology have long known to be the truth: the essence of life is complicated chemistry and nothing more.”

James D. Watson (1928) American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist.

Source: DNA: The Story of the Genetic Revolution (2003/2017), Chapter 9, “Reading Genomes: Evolution in Action” (p. 242)

Life

“Philosophy can never reconcile itself with science. Science aims at self-evident truths and finds in them that "natural necessity" which, after having proclaimed itself for ever eternal, claims to serve as the foundation of all knowledge and strives to rule over all wanton "suddenly."”

Lev Shestov (1866–1938) Russian theologian

But philosophy has always been, and will always be, a fight with and a conquest of self-evident truths; philosophy is not looking for any "natural necessity", it sees in naturalness and in necessity alike an evil magic, which, if one cannot quite shake it off (for in this no mortal has ever yet succeeded), yet one must at least call by its right name; and even this is an important step! p. 342
Source: In Job's Balances: on the sources of the eternal truths, Words That Are Swallowed Up - Plotinus's Ecstasies

Science, Nature, Knowledge

“The first commandment of modern philosophy runs: Thou shalt emancipate thyself from all postulates. The postulate has been declared a deadly sin, and he who makes one is the enemy of truth.”

Lev Shestov (1866–1938) Russian theologian

Source: In Job's Balances: on the sources of the eternal truths, On The Philosophy of History p. 247

“Reason, which is based upon the world common to us all, which furnishes us with truths like "twice two is four" and "nothing happens without a cause" this reason not only cannot justify and explain these new terrors and anxieties of Tolstoy's; it condemns them pitilessly as unreasonable, motiveless, arbitrary, and consequently unreal and visionary.”

Lev Shestov (1866–1938) Russian theologian

Source: In Job's Balances: on the sources of the eternal truths, The Last Judgment; Tolstoy's Last Words p. 101

World

“There is a flower, a purple flower
Sown by the wind, nursed by the shower,
O'er which Love has breathed a power and spell
The truth of whispering hope to tell.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

According to the Lady's Book of Flowers, 1842 , this is the centaury
Source: The London Literary Gazette, 1824

Flowers, Hope, Love

“My burning desire is to lead my generation into the very act of worship, worshiping the Lord in spirit and in truth.”

Tope Alabi (1970) Nigerian Gospel artist

https://quotes.ng/mobile/author.php?title=tope-alabi&id=1290

“I used to think I was odd, as the things that interested many weren’t my interest. Not anymore, now I understand my interests and live in my truth.”

Omotola Jalade Ekeinde (1978) Nigerian actress and singer

https://naijagists.com/omotola-jalade-ekeinde-wisdom-quotes-top-20-motivational-quotes-sayings-omosexy/ Omotola Jalade Ekehinde speaking on Success.

Understanding, Thinking

“The fundamental truth that makes us free is the grateful recognition that we come from God and we are not the product of chance, or of mere biological evolution, or of some cosmic coincidence.”

Andrés Stanovnik (1949) Catholic archbishop

Source: Bishop reminds Argentineans “man comes from God and is not product of chance” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/4419/bishop-reminds-argentineans-man-comes-from-god-and-is-not-product-of-chance (17 July 2005)

God, Chance

“I was dragged into this and really wronged, but the truth will come out one day.”

Bo Xilai (1949) former Politburo member of the Communist Party of China

Source: "Disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai anticipated prison in letter to family" in CNN https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/19/world/asia/china-bo-xilai-letter/index.html (23 September 2013)

“My own answer to the contrarian question is that most people think the future of the world will be defined by globalization, but the truth is that technology matters more. ... In a world of scarce resources, globalization without new technology is unsustainable.”

Peter Thiel book Zero to One

Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=Owc2nQEACAAJ&pg=PA8 pp. 8–9
Zero to One (2014)

Question, Future, People, Thinking

“We'll probably just execute them. You don't have to support the government, but you should report the truth.”

Prayut Chan-o-cha (1954) Thai military officer, junta chief, and politician

Source: On how the government would deal with journalists who did not adhere to the government's laws https://web.archive.org/web/20210316002628/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-junta-media-idUSKBN0ML0RV20150325 (25 March 2015)

Support

“Wisdom and Truth are synonymous terms, and that which is false or well-known representative of the Church of England, that the Sermon of the Mount would, in its practical application, mean utter ruin for his country less than three weeks;”

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky book The Key to Theosophy

Source: The Key to Theosophy (1889)

Falseness, Country, Wisdom

“It’s always better to tell a half-truth than a half-lie.”

Ben Aaronovitch book Moon Over Soho

Source: Moon Over Soho (2011), Chapter 13, “Autumn Leaves” (p. 277)

Lie

“There we continued the time-honored tradition of brazenly lying through our teeth while telling nothing but the truth.”

Ben Aaronovitch book Rivers of London

Source: Rivers of London (2011; American edition title: Midnight Riot), Chapter 10, “The Blind Spot” (p. 210)

Time, Lying

“We have to also realise that celibacy itself is not an easy life and I think anyone who tells you it's an easy life, will not be truthful. Celibacy is not an easy life but is a life that is worth living with the grace of God.”

Robert Ndlovu (1955) Archbishop of Harare

Source: ‘Pius Ncube now living a life of prayer’ https://thestandard.newsday.co.zw/2012/08/05/pius-ncube-now-living-a-life-of-prayer/ (5 August 2012)

God, Thinking, Life

“When the school children of Australia are told more truths about their own country, and fewer lies about the virtues of Royalty, the day will be near when we can place our own national flag in one of the proudest places among the ensigns of the world.”

Henry Lawson (1867–1922) Australian writer and poet

Source: A Neglected History (1887)

School, Country, Children, World

“Maybe it’s a mark of a maturing culture, do you think, that secrets aren’t kept, that truth is told, that things are talked out?”

Arthur C. Clarke A Time Odyssey

Source: 2000s and posthumous publications, A Time Odyssey, Firstborn (2007), Chapter 49, “Areosynchronous” (p. 313)

Secret, Thinking

“Exactly one year ago martial law was introduced. The year that has passed was a great test. We have passed it. It has been passed by the party, by the people's authority and all the citizens. But there is the only winner: the Polish nation. This is the shortest-put truth about the past year.”

Wojciech Jaruzelski (1923–2014) Polish military officer and politician

Source: Speech on 1982

People, Law, Past

“Xenophanes might be saying that we have only superficial understanding, and we never get to knowledge of the clear truth.”

Catherine Rowett (1956) Professor of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia (born 1956)

Source: Presocratic Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (2004), Ch. 4 : Reality and appearance: more adventures in metaphysics

Knowledge, Understanding

“We’re clusters of chemical reactions that contemplate deep truths about the nature of reality.”

Steve Stewart-Williams (1971)

Source: The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve (2018), p. 15

Reality, Nature

“When angry do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down. Leave no such room or foothold for the devil give no opportunity to him.”

book Bible

Source: Ephesians 4:26-27, AMP

Sun

“For religion all men are equal, as all pennies are equal, because the only value in any of them is that they bear the image of the King.... It has often been said, very truly, that religion is the thing that makes the ordinary man feel extraordinary; it is an equally important truth that religion is the thing that makes the extraordinary man feel ordinary.”

G. K. Chesterton Charles Dickens

Ch 1 : "The Dickens Period"
Charles Dickens (1906)

Religion, Feeling, Men

“Few desire to know the truth of what is happening in our state’s abortion clinics. All of the outrage, all of the noise is directed at one thing: silencing the uncomfortable truth. It’s either willful ignorance or a decision to partner with the abortion industry. When I started in public office, I was intellectually pro-life, but now I have come to see that the life issue is truly the issue of our time. The depth of evil that exists to protect this lie prevents the states from protecting children. How we determine the answer to this issue is what will determine where our nation will end up. Unless the truth prevails, abortion will destroy us as a nation.”

Phill Kline (1959) American politician

Source: Ask the Attorney: An Interview with Former Kansas Attorney General and Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline http://lifelegalgiving.com/ask-the-attorney-an-interview-with-former-kansas-attorney-general-and-johnson-county-district-attorney-phill-kline/ (1 August 2009)

Decision, Life, Silence, Children

“I believe that the religious have two main tasks. On the one hand, as Ezekiel says, to behave like sentinels, not spies: when there is a threat we must warn and try to solve the problem before it explodes, it is a very big responsibility and if there are so many problems it means that the sentinels did not carry out their job well. Then we must be intercessors and when there is hostility between two groups, families or people, we have to mediate in truth. It is also essential to always keep prayer alive for the Country and for the protagonists so that God converts the heart. Now, it can be said, that the heart of many is of stone, it is up to us to make it flesh. Religions here seek a common line to promote peace.”

Jean Zerbo (1943) Malian Roman Catholic cardinal

Source: Cardinal Zerbo: Catholic sentinels and mediators among violence and conflict http://www.fides.org/en/news/68204-AFRICA_MALI_Cardinal_Zerbo_Catholic_sentinels_and_mediators_among_violence_and_conflict (24 June 2020)

Country, Problem, God, Hostility

“Our great security lies, I think, in our growing strength, both in numbers and wealth; ... unless, by a neglect of military discipline, we should lose all martial spirit ...; for there is much truth in the Italian saying, Make yourselves sheep, and the wolves will eat you.”

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …

Letter to Thomas Cushing (1773) http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/franklin-the-works-of-benjamin-franklin-vol-vi-letters-and-misc-writings-1772-1775#lf1438-06_head_007.

Wealth, Thinking

“The truth is, distributing intimate photos with the intent to publish them is a crime, and the perpetrator should be punished to the full extent of the law. I have notified Capitol Police, who are investigating it, and therefore will have no further comment on the matter.”

Katie Hill (politician) (1987) former U.S. Representative from California

Source: "Rep. Katie Hill threatens legal action after another conservative outlet publishes her nude photo" https://www.salon.com/2019/10/25/rep-katie-hill-threatens-legal-action-after-another-conservative-outlet-publishes-her-nude-photo/, Salon (October 25, 2019)

Photo, Law

“The third of the twelve truths in this book is that you must accept that fear is good.”

Jay Samit (1961) American businessman

Future Proofing You (2021)

Books, Fear

“The first truth you must accept for Future Proofing You is that nothing can be achieved without a growth mindset.”

Jay Samit (1961) American businessman

Future Proofing You (2021)

Future

“The reality is; there is something which exist but what that something is; remains a question. Either because we are not capable to reveal it yet or because with time and movement it changes itself and has no truth in it. But what’s the reason for its existence without having or revealing any truth, that’s the evidence we need to find.”

Zaman Ali (1993) Pakistani philosopher

Source: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/11085116-the-reality-is-there-is-something-which-exist-but-what

Change, Time, Question, Reality

“I ran twice and we won twice.This crowd is a massive symbol of what took place, because people are hungry for the truth. They want their country back.”

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

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/01/trump-arizona-rally-2024-election/621244/ theatlantic
2022, January 2022

Country, People

“International relations and dialogue cannot be built either on lies or the denial of truth.”

János Áder (1959) President of Hungary

Source: János Áder (2022) cited in: " President Áder: Int’l Dialogue Cannot Be Built on Lies, Denial of Truth https://hungarytoday.hu/ader-diplomats-ambassadors-foreign-diplomatic-corps/" in Hungary Today, 11 January 2022.

“Survival comes first, truth, understanding, and science later.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb book Skin in the Game

Source: Skin in the Game (2018), p. 214

Understanding, Science

“The masses have never thirsted after truth. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.”

Gustave Le Bon (1841–1931) French psychologist

Source: Psychologie des Foules [The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind] (1895)

“You are not weak. You are brave. One of the bravest I know. Speaking your truth, a person living at the intersection of multiple identities, unapologetically, takes courage. I love you”

Jurnee Smollett (1986) American actress

14 February 2019 https://twitter.com/jurneesmollett/status/1096168270506258432 re Jussie Smollett (older brother)

Courage, Personality, Love

“After so much austerity I have known that the highest truth is this: He is present in every being! These are all in manifold forms of him. There is no other God to seek for! He alone is worshipping God, who serves all beings!”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Source: As quoted in Vivekananda : The Yogas and Other Works (1953), p. 173; also at "The Story Of Swami Vivekananda: Mission Impossible" at MyLifeYoga (10 December 2011) http://mylifeyoga.com/2011/12/10/the-story-of-swami-vivekananda-mission-impossibl/

God

“If wars can be started with lies, they can be stopped by truth.”

Julian Assange (1971) Australian editor, activist, publisher and journalist

Source: Quoted in Fate Of Anti-War Journalism Lies in Upcoming Assange Hearings, Sam Carliner, https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/10/22/fate-anti-war-journalism-lies-upcoming-assange-hearings October 22, 2021

War

“I always try to improve, to find new ways of expressing myself, to keep looking for truth and originality.”

Burt Lancaster (1913–1994) American actor and producer

other quotes

Way

“I didn’t realize that in truth what makes you a good teacher is really living your own practice, and living it so much that you request it to other people. Ultimately, everything you do that you teach someone else is something that you’re working through to teach yourself, and that practice of really digging within yourself, it feels like having your soul cracked open.”

Jessamyn Stanley (1987) American yoga teacher and author

Source: Jessamyn Stanley is fighting for radical visibility and yoga for every body, Samantha Grasso, Aug 28, 2018, 2018 https://www.dailydot.com/irl/jessamyn-stanley/,

Soul, People, Teachers, Feeling

“Why from the plain truth should I shrink?
In woods men feel; in towns they think.
Yet, which is best? Thought, stumbling, plods
Past fallen temples, vanished gods,
Altars unincensed, fanes undecked,
Eternal systems flown or wrecked;
Through trackless centuries that grant
To the poor trudge refreshment scant,
Age after age, pants on to find
A melting mirage of the mind.
But feeling never wanders far,
Content to fare with things that are.”

Alfred Austin (1835–1913) British writer and poet

Source: At the Gate of the Convent (1885), "A Defence of English Spring", p. 58.

God, Age, Past, Thinking

“They invite cherry-picked young people to meetings like this to pretend that they listen to us. But they clearly don’t listen to us. Our emissions are still rising. The science doesn’t lie. We can no longer let the people in power decide what is politically possible. We can no longer let the people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive. Hope is not blah, blah, blah. Hope is telling the truth. Hope is taking action. And hope always comes from the people.”

Greta Thunberg (2003) Swedish climate change activist

Source: 'Blah, blah, blah’: Greta Thunberg lambasts leaders over climate crisis, by Damian Carrington, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/28/blah-greta-thunberg-leaders-climate-crisis-co2-emissions, (28 September 2021)

People, Lie, Science, Hope

“I deny that villany is ever necessary. It is impossible that it should ever be necessary for any reasonable creature to violate all the laws of justice, mercy, and truth. No circumstances can make it necessary for a man to burst in sunder all the ties of humanity. It can never be necessary for a rational being to sink himself below a brute. A man can be under no necessity of degrading himself into a wolf. The absurdity of the supposition is so glaring, that one would wonder any one can help seeing it.”

John Wesley (1703–1791) Christian theologian

Source: 1770s, Thoughts Upon Slavery (1774)

Wolf, Justice, Law, Help

“Beware you are not a fiery, persecuting enthusiast. Do not imagine that God has called you (just contrary to the spirit of Him you style your Master) to destroy men’s lives, and not to save them. Never dream of forcing men into the ways of God. Think yourself, and let think. Use no constraint in matters of religion. Even those who are farthest out of the way never compel to come in by any other means than reason, truth, and love.”

John Wesley book Sermons on Several Occasions

1770s, Sermons on Several Occasions (1771)
Source: Sermon 37 "The Nature of Enthusiasm"

Imagination, Thinking, Love, Men

“A time came when the Catholics, having long relied on force, were compelled to appeal to opinion. That which had been defiantly acknowledged and defended required to be ingeniously explained away. The same motive which had justified the murder now prompted the lie. Men shrank from the conviction that the rulers and restorers of their Church had been murderers and abetters of murder, and that so much infamy had been coupled with so much zeal. They feared to say that the most monstrous of crimes had been solemnly approved at Rome, lest they should devote the Papacy to the execration of mankind. A swarm of facts were invented to meet the difficulty: The victims were insignificant in number; they were slain for no reason connected with religion; the Pope believed in the existence of the plot; the plot was a reality; the medal is fictitious; the massacre was a feint concerted with the Protestants themselves; the Pope rejoiced only when he heard that it was over. These things were repeated so often that they have been sometimes believed; and men have fallen into this way of speaking whose sincerity was unimpeachable, and who were not shaken in their religion by the errors or the vices of Popes. Möhler was pre-eminently such a man. In his lectures on the history of the Church, which were published only last year, he said that the Catholics, as such, took no part in the massacre; that no cardinal, bishop, or priest shared in the councils that prepared it; that Charles informed the Pope that a conspiracy had been discovered; and that Gregory made his thanksgiving only because the King's life was saved. Such things will cease to be written when men perceive that truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.”

John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (1834–1902) British politician and historian

Source: 1860s, The Massacre Of St. Bartholomew (1869)

Sincerity, Life, Men, Lie

“Where is a self-revelation of this sort achieved? In Life, as its essence, since Life is nothing other than that which reveals itself – not something that might have an added property of self-revealing, but the very fact of self-revealing, self-revelation as such. Everywhere that something like a self-revelation is produced there is Life. Everywhere there is Life, this self-revelation is produced. If, then, the Revelation of God is a self-revelation that owes nothing to the truth of the world, and if we ask where such a self-revelation is achieved, the answer is unequivocal: in Life and in Life alone. Therefore we are in the presence of the first fundamental equation of Christianity: God is Life – he is the essence of Life, or if one prefers, the essence of Life is God. Saying this we already know what God is, but we do not know it through the effect of some knowledge or learning – we do not know it through thought, against the background of the truth of the world. Rather we know it, and we can know it, only in and through Life itself. We can know the essence of God only in God. But this observation is premature.”

Michel Henry (1922–2002) French writer

Books on Religion and Christianity, I am the Truth. Toward a philosophy of Christianity (1996)
Source: Michel Henry, I am the Truth. Toward a Philosophy of Christianity, translated by Susan Emanuel, Stanford University Press, 2003, p. 27-28

Knowledge, Life, God, Learning

“Although it is not thought or some other form of knowledge, although it is not the truth of the world, that gives access to the Revelation of God, at least a single possibility persist, already mentioned as a simple matter of fact and now rendered unimpeachable. Access to God, understood as his self-revelation according to a phenomenality proper to Him, is not susceptible of being produced except where this self-revelation is produced and in the way self-revelation does so. There where God originally arrives in himself, in the phenomenalization of phenomenality that is his own and is thus like the self-phenomenalization of this phenomenality proper – there alone is access to God. It is not that thought is lacking and so we cannot accede to the Revelation of God. Quite the contrary, it is only when thought defaults, because the truth of the world is absent, that what is at stake be achieved: the self-revelation of God – the self-phenomenalization of pure phenomenality against the background of a phenomenality that is not that of the world.”

Michel Henry (1922–2002) French writer

Knowledge, God, Way, World

“I do not intend to ask whether Christianity is “true” or “false,” or to establish, for example, the former hypothesis. Rather, what will be in question here is what Christianity considers as truth – what kind of truth it offers to people, what it endeavors to communicate to them, not as a theoretical and indifferent truth but as the essential truth that by some mysterious affinity is suitable for them, to the point that it alone is capable of assuring them salvation. We are trying to understand the form of truth that circumscribes the domain of Christianity, the milieu in which it spreads, the air that it breaths, one might say – because there are many sorts of truths, many ways of being true or false. And we are also perhaps trying to get away from the concept of truth that dominates modern thought and that, as much in and of itself as in its multiple implications, determines the world in which we live.”

Michel Henry (1922–2002) French writer

Communication, Falseness, Understanding, Question

“The rites of the church are expressions of our faith. As we all individually have differing histories and experiences, communities of Christians do as well. One will find subtle differences even between parishes. Jesus Christ founded one Catholic Church with fundamental truths and sacraments. He did not detail the way that should be experienced. History and geography have provided the alternate expressions. With a unified Catholic Church, our differences can be ways of understanding those truths and celebrating the sacraments while protecting their integrity.”

John Michael Kudrick (1947) Roman Catholic bishop

Source: Pope Francis & Married Catholic Priests: Q&A with Bishop John of Parma https://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/pope-francis-married-catholic-priests-qa-bishop-john-parma (3 December 2014)

History, Communication, Understanding, Faith

“Patriotism means different things to different people. For me it entails citizen solidarity in promoting justice at home and resisting official lies, apologetics, euphemisms, crime and tyranny. Love of country requires a commitment to truth and readiness to counter «fake news » and skewed political «narratives.»”

Alfred de Zayas (1947) American United Nations official

Internationally, patriotism means averting harm from one’s country by pro-actively seeking dialogue and compromise, so as to contribute to peace and justice – pax et iustitia.
2021

Home, People, Country, Justice

“It is unfortunate, considering that enthusiasm moves the world, that so few enthusiasts can be trusted to speak the truth.”

Arthur James Balfour (1848–1930) British Conservative politician and statesman

Chief Secretary for Ireland
Source: Letter to Mary Gladstone Drew (17 May 1891), in Some Hawarden Letters, 1878–1913, Written to Mrs. Drew (Miss Mary Gladstone) Before and After Her Marriage, chosen and arranged by Lisle March-Phillipps and Bertram Christian (London: Nisbet & Co., 1917), p. 248.

World

“A philosopher's renown is increased more by inventing a new error than by repeating a truth that has already been expressed by others.”

René Guénon (1886–1951) French metaphysician

Source: The Crisis of the Modern World (1927), p. 56

Error

“When hope lies dead—ah, when 'tis death to live,
And wrongs remembered make the heart still bleed,
Better are Sleep's kind lies for Life's blind need
Than truth, if lies a little peace can give.”

Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832–1914) English literary critic and poet

"Prophetic Pictures at Venice II: The Temptation", p. 199.
The Coming of Love and Other Poems (1897)

Sleep, Peace, Dead, Hope

“Speak the truth. Transparency breeds legitimacy.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

Source: https://www.facebook.com/100044605381690/posts/512632483566927/?d=n

“Don't be a slave of falsity which isn't helping you while truth which can help you is ready to be your servant.”

- Goa

Help

“The problem isn't that the world isn't fair enough. It is, we aren't truthful enough.”

- Goa

World, Problem

“I am not telling you to embrace the truth,
I am telling you to embrace yourself.”

- Goa

“The master of life is a master of truth.”

- Goa

Life

“The mistake we make after we have chased away the lie is because we love the truth so much, we make for her a beautiful and very comfortable bed.”

- Goa

Beauty, Lie, Love

“Both truth and falsity rule the world. Falsity by virtue of numbers and truth by virtue of control.”

- Goa

World

“I have been opposed to vivisection for many years; not just because it is unbelievably barbaric and unforgivably cruel but also because it is worthless, wasteful, inaccurate, uninformative and dangerously misleading. The cruelty is indefensible and an affront to human dignity, but in a desperate attempt to justify their evil practices many vivisectors still claim that what they do helps save human lives. They are lying. The truth is that animal experiments kill people and animal researchers are responsible for the deaths of thousands of men, women and children every year; they are also directly responsible for a massive amount of human suffering.”

Vernon Coleman (1946) British doctor

"Why Animal Experiments Must Stop" (1991), in animalliberationfront.com http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Philosophy/Animal%20Testing/Vivisection/waems.htm.

Lying, Death, Women, Men

“When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake, and then it subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots are to become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the desire to mate every second of the day. It is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every part of your body. No … don’t blush. I am telling you some truths. For that is just being in love; which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away. Doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? But it is!”

Louis De Bernières (1954) English novelist

Source: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

Imagination, Lying, Madness, Night

“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.”

Pema Chödron (1936) American philosopher

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (1997)

Fear, Nature

“There’s a lot of pressure on romance, I think, because you have to be so truthful. But that’s what you want, isn’t it? You just want to find the truth in everything.”

Jonathan Bailey (1988) British actor

"Jonathan Bailey: Why romance is such serious business for Jonathan Bailey" in the Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/awards/story/2022-05-24/jonathan-bailey-viscount-anthony-bridgerton (26 May 2022)

Thinking

“We are in fact now living in the conditions of a perfect storm and the moment of truth, that very storm and moment of truth that will ensure and protect our interests, and make it so that your lives are better, more comfortable, more stable, and more secure.”

Dmitry Peskov (1967) Russian politician

CNN Interview (March 2022)

Perfection

Quotes about the truth page 80

Quotes about the truth
page 80