Quotes about truth and lies
458 quotes from 240 people
I think that only daring speculation can lead us further and not accumulation of facts.
Albert Einstein1879–1955Letter to Michele Besso (8 October 1952)Liberty is the right of every man to be honest, to think and to speak without hypocrisy.
José Martí1853–1895Martí: Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)Human beings have a demonstrated talent for self-deception when their emotions are stirred.
Carl Sagan1934–1996Cosmos (1980), p. 135Truth makes on the ocean of nature no one track of light—every eye looking on finds its own.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton1803–1873Caxtoniana (1862)Violent zeal for truth hath an hundred to one odds to be either petulancy, ambition, or pride.
Jonathan Swift1667–1745Thoughts on ReligionThe work of science is to substitute facts for appearances, and demonstrations for impressions.
John Ruskin1819–1900The Stones of Venice (1853), Volume IIIIt is the duty of every man, so far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error.
Thomas Paine1737–1809The Theophilanthropist: Containing Critical, Moral, Theological and Literary Essays, in Monthly Numbers, p. 387
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882The Conduct of Life (1860), Behavior
George Willborn 1941Column, March 14, 2014, “Democrats are making income inequality worse” at washingtonpost.com
Clarence Darrow1857–1938The Sign (May 1938)
Bertrand Russell1872–1970BBC Radio Debate on the Existence of God, Russell vs. Copleston (1948)
Samuel Johnson1709–1784Dr. Johnson’s Table Talk (London: 1807), p. 67
Rudyard Kipling1865–1936“Fiction”, speech to the Royal Society of Literature, June 1926; published in Writings on Writing: Rudyard Kipling (1996), ed. Sandra Kemp and Lisa Lewis, p. 80
Confucius551–479 BCAnalects, Chapter VI
Robert Browning1812–1889The Ring and the Book (1868-69)