“People can choose between the sweet lie or the bitter truth. I say the bitter truth, but many people don't want to hear it.”

“[Democritus says:] By convention sweet is sweet, by convention bitter is bitter, by convention hot is hot, by convention cold is cold, by convention color is color. But in reality there are atoms and the void. That is, the objects of sense are supposed to be real and it is customary to regard them as such, but in truth they are not. Only the atoms and the void are real.”

Democritus Ancient Greek philosopher, pupil of Leucippus, founder of the atomic theory

“Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

“Children come running to the truth
But you've got to peel the skin to get the fruit
And while one's living high another's grieving
But what's sweet by morning is bitter by the evening
Oh - What's sweet by morning is bitter by the evening.”

Ben Harper (1969) singer-songwriter and musician

“We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.”

Denis Diderot book Rameau's Nephew

“Point is, people lie a lot. Sometimes out of habit. Not many people are good at telling the truth.”

Jonathan Maberry book Rot & Ruin

“Colored people so seldom tell certain truths about conditions which confront their race that when they do, even white people who are interested in them feel that they must be “bitter.””

Mary Church Terrell (1863–1954) African Americans' rights activist

“That was what she really wanted. To forget so thoroughly she'd never have another memory again, the bitter so bitter you gave up the sweet.”

Janet Fitch (1955) American writer

“Harvard's motto is "Veritas." Many of you have already found out and others will find out in the course of their lives that truth eludes us if we do not concentrate with total attention on its pursuit. And even while it eludes us, the illusion still lingers of knowing it and leads to many misunderstandings. Also, truth is seldom pleasant; it is almost invariably bitter. There is some bitterness in my speech today, too. But I want to stress that it comes not from an adversary but from a friend.”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian writer

“The problem is, only a few people get to be scientists. You see the dilemma? Given the choice between a truth they can appreciate and a lie they can live, most people will take you-know-what.”

James K. Morrow book Only Begotten Daughter