“To get to know a truth properly, one must polemicize it.”

Quoted in [The Irish Astronomical Journal, Volume 12, Irish Astronomical Society, 1975, 150]

Le vrai est trop simple, il faut y arriver toujours par le compliqué.
Letter to Armand Barbès, (12 May 1867), published in Georges Lubin (ed.) Correspondance (Paris: Garnier Freres, 1964-95) vol. 20, p. 412; Bruce Kajewski Traveling with Hermes (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1992) p. 32

Source: The Hunt for Red October

Quoted in: Joan Klostermann-Ketels (2011) HumaniTrees, p. 96.

Source: Radiolab episode "The Fact of the Matter" http://www.radiolab.org/2012/sep/24/in-the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-doubt/

Source: Jenna Starborn

Source: Lady of Mazes (2005), Chapter 16 (p. 179).

Falsehood in Wartime (1928), Introduction
Context: Lying, as we all know, does not take place only in war-time. Man, it has been said, is not "a veridical animal," but his habit of lying is not nearly so extraordinary as his amazing readiness to believe. It is, indeed, because of human credulity that lies flourish. But in war-time the authoritative organization of lying is not sufficiently recognized. The deception of whole peoples is not a matter which can be lightly regarded.
A useful purpose can therefore be served in the interval of so-called peace by a warning which people can examine with dispassionate calm, that the authorities in each country do, and indeed must, resort to this practice in order, first, to justify themselves by depicting the enemy as an undiluted criminal; and secondly, to inflame popular passion sufficiently to secure recruits for the continuance of the struggle. They cannot afford to tell the truth. In some cases it must be admitted that at the moment they do not know what the truth is.

"La vida es difícil. Para estar en paz con uno mismo hay que decir la verdad. Para estar en paz con el prójimo hay que mentir."
Descanso de caminantes, 2001.