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Quotes about truth and lies

458 quotes from 240 people

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You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth.
Mark Twain1835–1910Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Chapter IIn context
- Writing
Homely truth is unpalatable.
Mark Twain1835–1910The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Chapter XXIIn context
You know I hate, detest, and can’t bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appalls me. There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies⁠—which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world⁠—what I want to forget.
Joseph Conrad1857–1924Heart of Darkness (1899), Part IIn context
Perhaps all the wisdom, and all truth, and all sincerity, are just compressed into that inappreciable moment of time in which we step over the threshold of the invisible.
Joseph Conrad1857–1924Heart of Darkness (1899), Part IIIIn context
- Life & Death
- Wisdom
I said the thing which was not;” for they have no word in their language to express lying or falsehood.
Jonathan Swift1667–1745Gulliver’s Travels (1726), Part IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms, Chapter IIIIn context
There was a society of men among us, bred up from their youth in the art of proving, by words multiplied for the purpose, that white is black, and black is white, according as they are paid.
Jonathan Swift1667–1745Gulliver’s Travels (1726), Part IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms, Chapter VIn context
- Clever Jabs
- Laws
Nothing in the world is harder than speaking the truth and nothing easier than flattery.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881Crime and Punishment (1867), Part VI, Chapter IVIn context
Above all, avoid falsehood, every kind of falsehood, especially falseness to yourself. Watch over your own deceitfulness and look into it every hour, every minute.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881The Brothers Karamazov (1880), Book II: An Unfortunate Gathering, Chapter IVIn context
Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone, but only to his friends. He has other matters in his mind which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself
Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881Notes from Underground (1864), Part I: Underground, Chapter XIIn context
- Friendship
And oftentimes to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths;
Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s
In deepest consequence.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Macbeth (c. 1606), Act I, Scene III, spoken by BanquoIn context
- Good & Evil
Look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under’t.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Macbeth (c. 1606), Act I, Scene V, spoken by Lady MacbethIn context
There’s daggers in men’s smiles
William Shakespeare1564–1616Macbeth (c. 1606), Act II, Scene III, spoken by DonalbainIn context
At lovers’ perjuries,
They say Jove laughs.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Romeo and Juliet (c. 1595), Act II, Scene II, spoken by JulietIn context
- Love
Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides:
Who covers faults, at last shame derides.
William Shakespeare1564–1616King Lear (c. 1606), Act I, Scene I, spoken by CordeliaIn context
- Time
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Othello (c. 1604), Act I, Scene I, spoken by IagoIn context