"That in the beginning when the world was young there were a great many thoughts but no such thing as truth. Man made the truths himself and each truth was a composite of a great many vague thoughts. All about in the world were truths and they were all beautiful"

Sherwood Anderson’s evocative statement explores the origins of truth and the subjective nature of its creation by humanity. The passage conjures an image of a primordial world teeming with thoughts, ideas, impressions, and fragments of perception, none of which qualify individually as truths. Rather, truth emerges as a human construction: it is synthesized from the multitude of indefinite, ambiguous thoughts circulating in the early world. People, in Anderson's vision, act as architects of truth, assembling these vague thoughts into coherent beliefs or understandings that come to be regarded as truth.

Anderson suggests that truth did not exist in a pristine, objective form, waiting to be discovered. Instead, it was something brought into being through the imaginative and interpretative powers of the human mind. Each truth, therefore, is not monolithic or singular; it is composite, made up of various overlapping and sometimes contradictory perceptions and imaginings. The use of "composite of a great many vague thoughts" emphasizes that even our most cherished truths are, at their core, constructs, perhaps beautiful, certainly meaningful, but built from the haziness of subjective experience.

The final lines shift toward a celebration of this process, describing a world "all about... were truths and they were all beautiful". Anderson implies that the proliferation and diversity of truths, their very multiplicity, are cause for appreciation, not dismay. Truths, though constructed and manifold, are depicted not as deceitful or lesser for their subjectivity, but as beautiful manifestations of human engagement with existence. Instead of lamenting uncertainty or relativism, Anderson finds beauty in the creative, imaginative act of making sense of the burgeoning possibilities of the world. This passage invites us to recognize the artistry in constructing understanding and the inherent value in the plurality and evolution of truth.