Philosophy & Thought: Truth Quotes

Menander, Poet

"Meaning is socially, historically, and rhetorically constructed"

Clifford Geertz, Scientist

"I'm writing a review of three books on feminism and science, and it's about social constructionism. So I would say I'm a social constructionist, whatever that means"

Clifford Geertz, Scientist

"Words were not given to man in order to conceal his thoughts"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"I am not a prophet"

Jose Saramago, Writer

"But are not the dreams of poets and the tales of travellers notoriously false?"

H. P. Lovecraft, Novelist

"I think that every so-called history book and film biography should be prefaced by the statement that what follows is the author's rendition of events and circumstances"

Barbara Kruger, Artist

"I've always thought that it's good to watch the news to find out what everybody else is looking at and believing, if only because that's how consensus is constructed"

Barbara Kruger, Artist

"There is risk and truth to yourselves and the world before you"

Seamus Heaney, Poet

"Consensus is what many people say in chorus, but do not believe as individuals"

Abba Eban, Diplomat

"I have always loved truth so passionately that I have often resorted to lying as a way of introducing it into the minds which were ignorant of its charms"

Giacomo Casanova, Celebrity

"History is a facsimile of events held together by finally biographical information"

Robert Smithson, Artist

"Anything that consoles is fake"

Iris Murdoch, Author

"It is like we are obliged to assume that the government is only doing what it says it is doing"

James Bovard, Author

"Unless people can be kept in the dark, it is best for those who love the truth to give them the full light"

Richard Whately, Writer

"The fact, if they are there, speak for themselves"

David Seabury, Psychologist

"The media tends to report rumors, speculations, and projections as facts... How does the media do this? By quoting some "expert"... you can always find some expert who will say something hopelessly hopeless about anything"

Peter McWilliams, Writer

"People are so docile right now. It is almost as if good government means when the politicians lie to us for our own good, for the public good, and bad government is when politicians lie for their own selfish interests"

James Bovard, Author

"In seeking truth you have to get both sides of a story"

Walter Cronkite, Journalist

"With attention deficit democracy, I am trying to wake up people to how the combination of mass ignorance, fear mongering by the government, and lying politicians is putting our entire system of government to a death spiral"

James Bovard, Author

"I like reality. It tastes like bread!"

Jean Anouilh, Playwright

"Our job is only to hold up the mirror - to tell and show the public what has happened"

Walter Cronkite, Journalist

"As one may bring himself to believe almost anything he is inclined to believe, it makes all the difference whether we begin or end with the inquiry, 'What is truth?'"

Richard Whately, Writer

"Your desires and true beliefs have a way of playing blind man's bluff. You must corner the inner facts"

David Seabury, Psychologist

"A long time ago, a bunch of people reached a general consensus as to what's real and what's not, and most of us have been going along with it ever since"

Charles de Lint, Writer

"As far as I'm concerned, the only difference between fact and what most people call fiction is about fifteen pages in the dictionary"

Charles de Lint, Writer

"There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative"

Allan Bloom, Philosopher

"The real community of man is the community of those who seek the truth, of the potential knowers"

Allan Bloom, Philosopher

"You can never trust what you read"

William Goldman, Novelist

"Genius, like truth, has a shabby and neglected mien"

Edward Dahlberg, Novelist

"The first duty of an historian is to be on guard against his own sympathies"

James Anthony Froude, Historian

"When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong"

Eugene V. Debs, Politician

"How little do they see what is, who frame their hasty judgments upon that which seems"

Robert Southey, Poet

"The more I study religions, the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself"

Richard Burton, Actor

"The truth is lived, not taught"

Hermann Hesse, Novelist

"It is not the possession of truth, but the success which attends the seeking after it, that enriches the seeker and brings happiness to him"

Max Planck, Scientist

"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it"

Max Planck, Scientist

"The scientist is a lover of truth for the very love of truth itself, wherever it may lead"

Luther Burbank, Environmentalist

"If history is any indication, all truths will eventually turn out to be false"

Dean Kamen, Inventor

"There is a huge difference between journalism and advertising. Journalism aspires to truth. Advertising is regulated for truth. I'll put the accuracy of the average ad in this country up against the average news story any time"

Jef I. Richards, Professor

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