“The unconscious wants truth. It ceases to speak to those who want something else more than truth.”
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) American poet, essayist and feminist
Source: On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose, 1966-1978
“The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.”
This has been attributed to Orwell on the internet, but the earliest source citing him as author appears to be a post from Jsnip4 on the RealistNews.net forum (15 February 2011) http://www.realistnews.net/Thread-realist-news-was-the-capital-gains-tax-just-removed-regarding-bullion. Prior to this, the statement occurred, without attribution to Orwell, in an opinion piece by columnist Selwyn Duke http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/duke/090506, "Stopping Truth At The Border: Banning Michael Savage From Britain" (6 May 2009) https://web.archive.org/web/20150701002957/http://www.conservativecrusader.com/articles/stopping-truth-at-the-border-banning-michael-savage-from-britain. <br class="br">Misattributed
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George Orwell473
English author and journalist 1903–1950Related quotes
“Point is, that's the image of those in uniform, and it couldn't be further from the truth.”
Max Brooks book World War Z
World War Z
Context: Attack. When I first heard that word, my gut reaction was, "oh shit". Does that surprise you? Of course it does. You probably expected "the brass" to be just champing at that bit, all that blood and guts, "hold 'em by the nose while we kick 'em in the ass" crap. I don't know who created the stereotype hard-charging, dim-witted, high school football coach of a general officer. Maybe it was Hollywood, or the civilian press, or maybe we did it to ourselves, by allowing those insipid, egocentric clowns- the MacArthurs and Halseys and Curtis E. LeMays- to define our image to the rest of the country. Point is, that's the image of those in uniform, and it couldn't be further from the truth.
“You can destroy those who speak the truth, but you cannot destroy the truth itself”
Terry Goodkind book The Omen Machine
Source: The Omen Machine
“Mirrors, those revealers of the truth, are hated; that does not prevent them from being of use.”
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist
Letter To M. Daelli on Les Misérables (1862)
Context: This book, Les Misérables, is no less your mirror than ours. Certain men, certain castes, rise in revolt against this book, — I understand that. Mirrors, those revealers of the truth, are hated; that does not prevent them from being of use. As for myself, I have written for all, with a profound love for my own country, but without being engrossed by France more than by any other nation. In proportion as I advance in life, I grow more simple, and I become more and more patriotic for humanity.
“Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Robert L. Heilbroner book The Worldly Philosophers
Source: The Worldly Philosophers (1953), Chapter II, The Economic Revolution, p. 15
Context: It may strike us as odd that the idea of gain is a relatively modern one; we are schooled to believe that man is essentially an acquisitive creature and that left to himself he will behave as any self-respecting businessman would. The profit motive, we are constantly being told, is as old as man himself.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Hate your enemies
Save your friends
Find your place
Speak the truth.”
Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter.
Song lyrics, In Utero (1993)
Dean Koontz book The Good Guy
Krait's musings
Source: The Good Guy (2007), Chapter 21, p. 147