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Quotes about truth and lies

458 quotes from 240 people

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He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.
Sigmund Freud1856–1939Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria (1905) Ch. 2: The First Dream
Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice keeps me from feeling isolated.
Albert Einstein1879–1955My Credo (1932)
- Justice
We spend our lives fighting to get people very slightly more stupid than ourselves to accept truths that the great men have always known.
Doris Lessing1919–2013The Golden Notebook (1962), Paul Tanner, in “Free Women: 1”
- Intelligence
You can lie or distort the story of the French Revolution as long as you like, and nothing will happen. Propose a false theory in chemistry, and it’ll be refuted tomorrow.
Noam Chomskyborn 1928Noam Chomsky: A Life of Dissent, 1992
- History
- Science
They tease me now, telling me it was only a dream. But does it matter whether it was a dream or reality, if the dream made known to me the truth?
Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877), II
- Sleep
God hides nothing. His very work from the beginning is revelation, — a casting aside of veil after veil, a showing unto men of truth after truth.
George MacDonald1824–1905Paul Faber, Surgeon (1879), Ch. 31: A Conscience
- God
You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
Jesus7 BC–AD 30The Gospel of John (1611), Gospel of John, 8:32In context
- Freedom
The search for the truth is the most important work in the whole world — and the most dangerous.
JCJames Clavell1921–1994The Fly (1958), François Delambre (Vincent Price) to André’s son, Philippe.
- Science
I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.
George Washington1732–1799George Washington’s Farewell Address (1796)
- Politics
I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and incur my own abhorrence.
Frederick Douglass1817–1895Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845), Ch. 5In context
- Character
Good books tell the truth, even when they’re about things that never have been and never will be. They’re truthful in a different way.
Stanisław Lem1921–2006“Pirx’s Tale” in More Tales of Pirx The Pilot (1983)
- Reading
Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time.
Mahatma Gandhi1869–1948Basic Education (1951) p. 89
- Time
I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect.
Jiddu Krishnamurti1895–1986Truth is a Pathless Land (1929)
- Religion
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
John F. Kennedy1917–1963Commencement address, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (11 June 1962)
Night brings out stars as sorrow shows us truths.
Philip James Bailey1816–1902Festus (1839)