Quotes about truth and lies
458 quotes from 240 people
There is not a truth existing which I fear or would wish unknown to the whole world.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Letter to Henry Lee (15 May 1826)
Richard Francis Burton1821–1890The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870)Who dares think one thing, and another tell,
My heart detests him as the gates of hell.
Homer900–800 BCIliad, Book IX, 312–313 (tr. Alexander Pope)Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.
Ulysses S. Grant1822–1885Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant (1885), Ch. 67
John Stuart Mill1806–1873On Liberty (1859), Ch. II: Of the Liberty of Thought and DiscussionIn contextO, what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!
Pope John Paul II1920–2005Encyclical Fides et Ratio, 14 September 1998If any man seeks for greatness, let him forget greatness and ask for truth, and he will find both.
Horace Mann1796–1859Journal entry (29 October 1838)
Thích Nhất Hạnh1926–2022The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation (1999), Page 52
Herodotus484–425 BCThe Histories, Book 1, Ch. 8.I cannot tell how the truth may be;
I say the tale as ‘twas said to me.Lying is the same as alcoholism. Liars prevaricate even on their deathbeds.
Anton Chekhov1860–1904Letter to A.N. Pleshcheev (October 9, 1888)
Michael Faraday1791–1867Lecture notes of 1858, quoted in The Life and Letters of Faraday (1870) by Bence Jones, Vol. 2, p. 403
