“A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on.”

— Terry Pratchett , book The Truth

Source: The Truth

Last update Sept. 29, 2023. History

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Terry Pratchett 796

English author 1948–2015

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“A lie can be halfway round the world before the truth has got its boots on.”

James Callaghan (1912–2005) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; 1976-1979

Though widely quoted from his speech in the House of Commons, (1 November 1976) published in Hansard, House of Commons, 5th series, vol. 918, col. 976.; this is actually a very old paraphrase of a statement of the 19th century minister Charles Spurgeon: "A lie travels round the world while truth is putting on her boots." Even in the paraphrased form Callaghan used, it was in widely familiar, many years prior to his use of it, and is evidenced to have been published in that form at least as early as 1939.
Misattributed

“A lie will gallop halfway round the world before the truth has time to pull its breeches on.”

Cordell Hull (1871–1955) American politician, U.S. Secretary of State from 1933 to 1944

Memoirs of Cordell Hull (1948), 1:220
This is a variant of similar statements attributed earlier to Mark Twain, e.g., "A lie will fly around the whole world while the truth is getting its boots on." The oldest attribution (1831) is to Fisher Ames: “falsehood proceeds from Maine to Georgia, while truth is pulling on his boots”.

“Serious business people would never get elected in Ireland. You don't get elected in this country if you run around and tell people the truth. You've got to run round and lie to them about 'it will be all right on the night' and then they'll vote for you.”

Michael O'Leary (businessman) (1961) businessman, CEO of Ryanair

Newsnight Interview (February 24, 2011)

“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Variant: A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

“No matter how fast a lie runs, the truth will someday overtake it.”

T. B. Joshua (1963) Nigerian Christian leader

On lies and truth - "TB Joshua Rejects Courts Findings, Insists Building Collapse Was A Sabotage" http://citifmonline.com/2015/07/10/tb-joshua-rejects-courts-findings-insists-building-collapse-a-sabotage/ Citi FM, Ghana (July 10 2015)

“Any lie has a condemnation: its duration. Time, sooner or later, will manifest the truth.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Qualsiasi bugia ha una condanna: la sua durata. Il tempo, prima o poi, manifesterà la verità.
Source: prevale.net

“But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.”

Charles Mackay (1814–1889) British writer

"Eternal Justice", Stanza 4
Legends of the Isles and Other Poems (1851)
Context: They may veil their eyes, but they cannot hide
The sun’s meridian glow;
The heel of a priest may tread thee down,
And a tyrant work thee woe:
But never a truth has been destroyed;
They may curse it, and call it crime;
Pervert and betray, or slander and slay
Its teachers for a time.
But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.

“It is a great deal easier to set a story afloat than to stop it. If you want truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go round the world, it will fly: it is as light as a feather, and a breath will carry it. It is well said in the old proverb, "A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on." Nevertheless, it does not injure us; for if light as feather it travels as fast, its effect is just about as tremendous as the effect of down, when it is blown against the walls of a castle; it produces no damage whatever, on account of its lightness and littleness. Fear not, Christian. Let slander fly, let envy send forth its forked tongue, let it hiss at you, your bow shall abide in strength. Oh! shielded warrior, remain quiet, fear no ill; but, like the eagle in its lofty eyrie, look thou down upon the fowlers in the plain, turn thy bold eye upon them and say, "Shoot ye may, but your shots will not reach half-way to the pinnacle where I stand. Waste your powder upon me if ye will; I am beyond your reach."”

Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist

Then clap your wings, mount to heaven, and there laugh them to scorn, for ye have made your refuge God, and shall find a most secure abode.
"No. 17: Joseph Attacked by the Archers (Genesis 49:23–24, delivered on Sunday 1855-04-01)" pp.130
Sermons delivered in Exeter Hall, Strand, during the enlargement of New Park Street Chapel, Southmark (1855)

“A theology which has as its points of reference only "truths" which have been established once and for all—and not the Truth which is also the Way—can only be static and, in the long run, sterile.”

Gustavo Gutiérrez (1928) Peruvian theologian

Source: A Theology of Liberation (1971), p. 13

“When all the world is young, lad,
And all the trees are green;
And every goose a swan, lad,
And every lass a queen;
Then hey for boot and horse, lad,
And round the world away;
Young blood must have its course, lad,
And every dog his day.”

Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) English clergyman, historian and novelist

Song II, st. 1.
Water Babies http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext97/wtrbs10h.htm (1863)

“A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on.”

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Terry Pratchett 796

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