"Truth is so rare that it is delightful to tell it"
About this Quote
Truth, for Dickinson, isn’t a polished virtue you display in public; it’s contraband. Calling it “so rare” smuggles in a quiet indictment of the social world she knew: a culture of manners, euphemism, and performative piety where saying what you mean is often treated as impolite, unstable, or simply unnecessary. The line flatters honesty while also hinting that dishonesty is the default setting of polite society.
The masterstroke is “delightful.” Dickinson doesn’t frame truth as duty, martyrdom, or moral hygiene. She frames it as pleasure, a small shock of freedom. That choice is subversive: it shifts truth-telling from the realm of sermon to the realm of sensation. There’s mischief in it, too. If telling the truth feels delightful, it’s because it breaks rules, punctures scripts, interrupts the expected narrative. Delight is what you feel when you get away with something.
Subtextually, she’s also writing against the 19th-century demand that women be agreeable, restrained, and indirect. Truth becomes a private thrill: an interior rebellion that can happen in a letter, a poem, a perfectly aimed sentence. Dickinson’s own life amplifies the context. She lived intensely on the page, crafting compressed, lightning-bolt statements that refuse small talk. The rarity isn’t just in the world; it’s in language itself. Words are slippery, reputations fragile, and sincerity is expensive. When truth does appear, it’s not sanctified. It’s alive. It bites, and it sparkles.
The masterstroke is “delightful.” Dickinson doesn’t frame truth as duty, martyrdom, or moral hygiene. She frames it as pleasure, a small shock of freedom. That choice is subversive: it shifts truth-telling from the realm of sermon to the realm of sensation. There’s mischief in it, too. If telling the truth feels delightful, it’s because it breaks rules, punctures scripts, interrupts the expected narrative. Delight is what you feel when you get away with something.
Subtextually, she’s also writing against the 19th-century demand that women be agreeable, restrained, and indirect. Truth becomes a private thrill: an interior rebellion that can happen in a letter, a poem, a perfectly aimed sentence. Dickinson’s own life amplifies the context. She lived intensely on the page, crafting compressed, lightning-bolt statements that refuse small talk. The rarity isn’t just in the world; it’s in language itself. Words are slippery, reputations fragile, and sincerity is expensive. When truth does appear, it’s not sanctified. It’s alive. It bites, and it sparkles.
Quote Details
| Topic | Truth |
|---|---|
| Source | Emily Dickinson — Wikiquote entry (contains: "Truth is so rare, it is delightful to tell it"). |
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