Truth is stranger than fiction; fiction has to make sense.
—Leo Rosten (1908–97) Polish-born American Humorist, Screenwriter, Writer
Can there be a more horrible object in existence than an eloquent man not speaking the truth?
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Seven years of silent inquiry are needful for a man to learn the truth, but fourteen in order to learn how to make it known to his fellowmen.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Purity of soul cannot be lost without consent.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
There is no God higher than truth.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
The first step toward finding God, Who is Truth, is to discover the truth about myself: and if I have been in error, this first step to truth is the discovery of my error.
—Thomas Merton (1915–68) American Trappist Monk
It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
You are goodness and mercy and compassion and understanding. You are peace and joy and light. You are forgiveness and patience, strength and courage, a helper in time of need, a comforter in time of sorrow, a healer in time of injury, a teacher in times of confusion. You are the deepest wisdom and the highest truth; the greatest peace and the grandest love. You are these things. And in moments of your life you have known yourself to be these things. Choose now to know yourself as these things always.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
Tell the truth and shame the devil.
—Common Proverb
Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known.
—John Lennon (1940–80) British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Activist
A hair divides what is false and true.
—Omar Khayyam (1048–1123) Persian Mathematician
Truth comes to us with a slow and doubtful step; measuring the ground she treads on, and forever turning her curious eye, to see that all is right behind; and with a keen survey choosing her onward path.
—James Gates Percival (1795–1856) American Poet, Surgeon, Geologist
I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our Government but civilization itself. That bond, though strained, is unbroken at home and abroad.
—Gerald Ford (1913–2006) American Head of State
Christianity knows no truth, which is not the child of love and the parent of duty.
—Phillips Brooks (1835–93) American Episcopal Clergyman, Author
The truth is often a terrible weapon of aggression. It is possible to lie, and even to murder, with the truth.
—Alfred Adler (1870–1937) Austrian Psychiatrist
Truth sits upon the lips of dying men.
—Matthew Arnold (1822–88) English Poet, Critic
It is twice as hard to crush a half-truth as a whole lie.
—Austin O’Malley (1858–1932) American Aphorist, Ophthalmologist
Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist
Truth uttered before its time is dangerous.
—Mencius (c.371–c.289 BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
We too often bind ourselves by authorities rather than by the truth.
—Lucretia Mott (1793–1880) American Abolitionist, Feminist
You think the shadow is the substance.
—Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207–73) Persian Muslim Mystic
They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien-philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or who says it.
—Malcolm X (1925–65) American Civil Rights Leader
Mental fight means thinking against the current, not with it. It is our business to puncture gas bags and discover the seeds of truth.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
Falsehood has an infinity of combinations, but truth has only one mode of being.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
The truth is more important than the facts.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
Truth comes out of error more readily than out of confusion.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
The superior man, even when he is not moving, has a feeling of reverence, and while he speaks not, he has the feeling of truthfulness.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
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