Truth
George Orwell on Truth
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
W. Somerset Maugham on Criticism
“People ask for criticism, but they only want praise.”
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on Truth
“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
Edgar Watson Howe on Lies
“Americans detest all lies except lies spoken in public or printed lies.”
Thomas H. Huxley on Wisdom
“It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance.”
Plato on Poetry
“Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.”
Carl Sagan on Science
“I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true.”
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on Science
“I never guess. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”
Bertrand Russell on Controversies
“The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.”
Thomas Sowell on Truth
“There are only two ways of telling the complete truth–anonymously and posthumously.”
Lillian Hellman on Cynicism
“Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.”
Evan Esar on Conscience
“Conscience is what makes a boy tell his mother before his sister does.”
Rene Descartes on Truth
“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.”
H. L. Mencken Cynical Quote
“The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.”
Edith Sitwell on Truth
“The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth.”
Edward Teller on Science
“A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective.”
Oscar Wilde on Truth
“If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.”
Albert Guinon on Truth
“When everyone is against you, it means that you are absolutely wrong – or absolutely right.”
Mark Twain on Truth
“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.”
Bertrand Russell on Mathematics
“Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty – a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture.”
Flannery O’Connor on Truth
“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
Frank Lloyd Wright on Truth
“The truth is more important than the facts.”
Galileo Galilei on Science
“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.”
Mark Twain on Truth
“Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn’t.”
Thomas H. Huxley on Truth
“Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.”