Daily Inspiration Quote by George Berkeley

A neat trap is hidden in Berkeley's line: it sounds democratic, then snaps shut. "Truth is the cry of all" grants everyone the impulse to invoke truth - in politics, religion, science, gossip, courts. People don't just want their side to win; they want it sanctified. Truth becomes a password you shout to prove you're on the side of reality. Berkeley hears that chorus and doesn't flatter it.

"But the game of few" turns truth from a shared possession into a discipline with entry fees: patience, training, self-suspicion, and the willingness to lose face. The subtext is less "ordinary people are foolish" than "most of us don't actually want the labor truth requires". We want the glow of being right, not the slow burn of inquiry. "Game" is the poisoned word here - it implies rules, strategy, and a kind of competitive pleasure. Truth isn't merely discovered; it's played for, often by elites who know how institutions, rhetoric, and evidence work.

Context matters because Berkeley isn't a cynic in the modern, nihilistic sense; he's a philosopher-priest writing in the early Enlightenment, when "truth" was becoming a public obsession and also a tool of authority. As an immaterialist who argued that reality depends on perception (and ultimately God), he knew how easily certainty can be manufactured from habit and social reinforcement. The line doubles as a warning: when everyone is shouting "truth", pay attention to who controls the rules of the game - and whether the game is even being played in good faith.