“Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believed.”
William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 69
Re: Evolution (24 June 1994) This is derived from a statement of William Blake: "Truth cannot be told, so as to be understood, and not be believ'd."
Variant: If the truth can be told so as to be understood, it will be believed.
“Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believed.”
William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 69
Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union
Why I Am An Agnostic (1929)
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) German scientist, satirist
J 77
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook J (1789)
James Branch Cabell book The Cream of the Jest
Source: The Cream of the Jest (1917), Ch. 13 : Suggesting Themes of Universal Appeal
Eino Leino (1878–1926) Finnish poet and journalist
Eino Leino, "Smiling Apollo," in: Antti Tuomainen (2015), Dark As My Heart, p. 87
Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel
Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Third Book (1546), Chapter 52 : How a certain kind of Pantagruelion is of that nature that the fire is not able to consume it
Context: I have already related to you great and admirable things; but, if you might be induced to adventure upon the hazard of believing some other divinity of this sacred Pantagruelion, I very willingly would tell it you. Believe it, if you will, or otherwise, believe it not, I care not which of them you do, they are both alike to me. It shall be sufficient for my purpose to have told you the truth, and the truth I will tell you.
“How many times have I told you not to believe everything you hear? Seek truth for yourself.”
Isabel Allende book Kingdom of the Golden Dragon
Source: Kingdom of the Golden Dragon
Robert Seymour Bridges (1844–1930) British writer
So Sweet Love Seemed, st. 2 (1893).
Shorter Poems (1879-1893)