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Quotes about truth and lies

458 quotes from 240 people

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Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence…
John Adams1735–1826Boston Massacre trial (1770)
- Facts
All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse.
John Quincy Adams1767–1848Letter to William Eustis (22 June 1809), published in Writings of John Quincy, Adams (1914), The Macmillan company.
There is no believing a liar, even when he speaks the truth.
Aesop620–564 BCAesop’s Fables (6th century BC), The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing – The Man and His Two SweetheartsIn context
All malice has injustice at it’s end, an end achieved by violence or by fraud; while both are sins that earn the hate of heaven, since fraud belongs exclusively to man, God hates it more and, therefore, far below, the fraudulent are placed and suffer most.
Dante Alighieri1265–1321The Inferno, Canto XI
Memory is fiction. We select the brightest and the darkest, ignoring what we are ashamed of, and so embroider the broad tapestry of our lives. (p433)
Isabel Allendeborn 1942Portrait in Sepia (2000)
Truth is the ultimate end of the whole universe.
Thomas Aquinas1225–1274Summa contra Gentiles (1259–1265), I, 1, 2
Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.
Hannah Arendt1906–1975The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), Ch. 11: The Totalitarian Movement
- Facts
The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.
Aristotle384–322 BCOn the Heavens, I.5. 271b8-10
Liars when they speak the truth are not believed.
Aristotle384–322 BCThe Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
While both are dear, Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.
Aristotle384–322 BCNicomachean Ethics, Book I chapter 6, 1096a.16
- Friendship
Truth sits upon the lips of dying men.
Matthew Arnold1822–1888Sohrab and Rustum (1853), Line 656
I’ll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it.
Isaac Asimov1920–1992The Roving Mind (1983), p. 43
- Facts
- Science
It’s a feature of our age that if you write a work of fiction, everyone assumes that the people and events in it are disguised biography — but if you write your biography, it’s equally assumed you’re lying your head off.
Margaret Atwoodborn 1939On Writing Poetry (1995)
- Writing
The supreme truths are neither the rigid conclusions of logical reasoning nor the affirmations of credal statement, but fruits of the soul’s inner experience.
Sri Aurobindo1872–1950Indian Spirituality and Life (1919)
- Religion
What could I do! Facts are such horrid things!
Jane Austen1775–1817“Lady Susan”, Letter XXXII (1871)
- Comedy
- Facts