“A man may be in as just possession of Truth as of a City, and yet be forced to surrender.”
Section 6
Religio Medici (1643), Part I
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Thomas Browne 78
English polymath 1605–1682Related quotes

The Art of Dying ( osho.com http://www.osho.com/online-library-allow-silences-joke-5f0b06d0-61e.aspx; retrieved August 2012), Chapter 6, 14.
The Art of Dying

“It is a natural illness of man to think that he possesses the truth directly…”
C'est une maladie naturelle à l'homme de croire qu'il possède la vérité directement…
Section I
Variant translation: It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.
On the Spirit of Geometry

“This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.”
Inscription on his banjo, inspired by the inscription on Woody Guthrie's guitar : "This machine kills fascists"

“Live according to the one and only truth and surrender to the trend of truth.”
Flow of Divine Guidance (vol.1)

Anti-Goeze (1778), as quoted in God Is Not Great (2007), by Christopher Hitchens , Ch. 19
Context: The true value of a man is not determined by his possession, supposed or real, of Truth, but rather by his sincere exertion to get to the Truth. It is not possession of the Truth, but rather the pursuit of Truth by which he extends his powers and in which his ever-growing perfectibility is to be found. Possession makes one passive, indolent, and proud. If God were to hold all Truth concealed in his right hand, and in his left only the steady and diligent drive for Truth, albeit with the proviso that I would always and forever err in the process, and offer me the choice, I would with all humility take the left hand, and say: Father, I will take this one—the pure Truth is for You alone.
Seminar on Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil (1971–1972)