“Error is the force that welds men together; truth is communicated to men only by deeds of truth.”
My Religion (1884), Ch. 12
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Leo Tolstoy 456
Russian writer 1828–1910Related quotes
Source: The Way Towards The Blessed Life or the Doctrine of Religion 1806, P. 26-27
“The truth is not for all men but only for those who seek it.”
Variant: The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them (pg. 52).
Source: Anthem
“There is no original truth, only original error.”
A Retrospective Glance at the Lifework of a Master of Books
Fragments of a Poetics of Fire (1988)
“It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.”
The complete political works. Rights of man: being an answer to Mr. Burke's attack on the French Revolution, p. 306
1790s
Introductory Remarks
Thoughts on African Colonization (1832)
Context: Is Error, though unwittingly supported by a host of good men, stronger than Truth? Are Right and Wrong convertible terms, dependant upon popular opinion? Oh no! Then I will go forward in the strength of the Lord of Hosts — in the name of Truth — and under the banner of Right. As it is not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of God, that great moral changes are effected, I am encouraged to fight valiantly in this good cause, believing that I shall "come off conqueror, and more than conqueror" — yet not I, but Truth and Justice. It is in such a contest that one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight.
“Do not know the truth by the men, but know the truth, and then you will know who are truthful.”
The Deliverance from Error https://www.amazon.com/Al-Ghazalis-Path-Sufism-Deliverance-al-Munqidh/dp/1887752307
The Paris Review interview (1982)
Context: She doesn’t hold back anything from them. When they beg her not to depart, she reminds them that nothing lasts forever. She’s as truthful as the nursery rhymes. Remember that all the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty-Dumpty together again. There’s such a tremendous truth in that. It goes into children in some part of them that they don’t know, and indeed perhaps we don’t know. But eventually they realize — and that’s the great truth.
The Study of History (1895)