Niccolò Machiavelli on facts

Rome remained free for four hundred years and Sparta eight hundred, although their citizens were armed all that time; but many other states that have been disarmed have lost their liberties in less than forty years.

Occasionally words must serve to veil the facts. But this must happen in such a way that no one becomes aware of it; or, if it should be noticed, excuses must be at hand, to be produced immediately.

There are three kinds of intelligence: one kind understands things for itself, the other appreciates what others can understand, the third understands neither for itself nor through others. This first is excellent, the second good, and the third useless.

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan1927–2003Often credited to Unattributed

The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts but learning how to make facts live.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.1841–1935

• Education

If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.