Last Updated: March 16, 2023 by Quote.cc Team
The concept of truth is a fundamental aspect of human existence, and it has been a subject of philosophical inquiry for centuries. Truth refers to the correspondence between what we say or think about the world and how it is. In other words, something is true if it accurately represents reality.
There are many different theories of truth, and philosophers have debated the nature of truth for centuries. Some philosophers argue that truth is absolute and objective, meaning it exists independently of human perception or interpretation. Others say that truth is relative and subjective, meaning that it depends on the perspective of the person making a claim.
A critical distinction in truth study is between propositional and existential truths. Propositional truth refers to the truth or falsehood of statements, while existential truth refers to the truth or falsity of things themselves. For example, “The sky is blue” is true if and only if the sky is blue. On the other hand, the fact that the sky exists is an example of an existential truth.
In addition to its philosophical significance, truth has practical importance in many areas of life, such as science, law, and journalism. Scientists seek to discover the truth about the natural world through observation and experimentation. In the legal system, witnesses are expected to tell the truth under oath, and evidence is evaluated based on its truthfulness. Journalists strive to report the truth about current events while also considering the impact of their reporting on society.
Despite its importance, the concept of truth can be complex and elusive. Philosophers still debate the nature of truth, and biases, perspectives, and interpretations can complicate the search for truth. However, pursuing truth remains an essential aspect of human knowledge and understanding.
Below is our collection of inspirational, wise, and positive truth quotes, truth sayings, and truth proverbs collected from various sources over the years.
200 Truth Quotes
Top 10 Truth Quotes
“If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.” – Albert Einstein
“The truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words the truth.” – Lao Tzu
“No legacy is so rich as honest.” – William Shakespeare
“All great truths begin as blasphemies.” – George Bernard Shaw
“On the mountains of truth, you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorro.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
“To live in the light of a new day and an unimaginable and unpredictable future, you must become fully present to a deeper truth – not a truth from your head, but a truth from your heart; not a truth from your ego, but a truth from the highest source.” – Debbie Ford
“Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.” – George Washington
“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” – Buddha
“Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. In the first, it is ridiculed, in the second it is opposed, in the third it is regarded as self-evident.” – Arthur Schopenhauer
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real fact.” – Abraham Lincoln
What Is Truth?
“Truth is the secret of eloquence and of virtue, the basis of moral authority; it is the highest summit of art and of life.” – Henri Frederic Amiel
“Truth, like milk, arrives in the dark but even so, wise dogs don’t bark. Only mongrels make it hard for the milkman to come up the yard.” – Christopher Morley
“Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.” – Winston Churchill
“Truth is the daughter of Time.” – Aulus Gellius
“Truth is the breath of life to human society. It is the food of the immortal spirit. Yet a single word of it may kill a man as suddenly as a drop of prussic acid.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.” – Leo Tolstoy
“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.” – Elvis Presley
“Truth is the ultimate power. When the truth comes around, all the lies have to run and hide.” – Ice Cube
“Truth is the torch that gleams through the fog without dispelling it.” – Claude Adrien Helvetius
“The truth is: Belonging starts with self-acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you’re enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and imperfect.” – Brene Brown
“Truth is everybody is going to hurt you: you just got to find the ones worth suffering for.” – Bob Marley
“Truth is light of foot like a fawn, not heavy like lead. It is young with the spirit of youth, but we bend it with weight in its still young years.” – Muriel Strode
“Truth is rarely writ in ink; it lives in nature.” – Martin H. Fischer
“Truth is a great flirt.” – Franz Liszt
“Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of thing.” – Isaac Newton
“Truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but, in the end, there it is.” – Sir Winston Churchill
“The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it.” – Ayn Rand
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” – Oscar Wilde
“Truth is no Doctoresse, she takes no degrees at Paris or Oxford… but oftentimes to such an one as myself, an Idiota or common person, no great things, melancholizing in woods where waters are, quiet places by rivers, fountains, whereas the silly man expecting no such matter, thinketh only how best to delectate and refresh his mynde continually with Natura her pleasaunt scenes, woods, water-falls, or Art her statelie gardens, parks, terraces, Belvideres, on a sudden the goddesse herself Truth has appeared, with a shyning lyghte, and a sparklyng countenance, so as yee may not be able lightly to resist her.” – Charles Lamb
“The truth is, we all face hardships of some kind, and you never know the struggles a person is going through. Behind every smile, there’s a story of a personal struggle.” – Adrienne C. Moore
“Beauty is truth’s smile when she beholds her own face in a perfect mirror.” – Rabindranath Tagore
“All truth passes through three stages: First it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed and third it is accepted as being self-evide.”
Bitter Truth Quotes
“Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch, nay, you may kick it all about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
“We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.” – Denis Diderot
“Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it.” – George R.R. Martin
“Everyone sees who I appear to be but only a few know the real me. You only see what i choose to show. There’s so much behind my smile you just don’t know.”
“Like all dreamers, I mistook disenchantment for truth.” – Jean-Paul Sartre
“A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.” – John Calvin
“There is no god higher than truth.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take which you please — you can never have both.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If a thousand old beliefs were ruined in our march to the truth we must still march on.” – Stopford Brooke
“Without faith there is no truth, for that is all the truth is or ever was.” – Robert Brault
“There are more martyrs to nonsense than truth, truth preferring missionaries.” – Robert Brault
“No sin is hidden to the soul.” – Bengali
“Nobody speaks the truth when there is something they must have.” – Elizabeth Bowen
“The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.” – Attributed to James A. Garfield
“We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable.” – Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“Truth breeds hatred.” – Bias of Priene
“The bitterest truth is always better than the sweetest lie.” – James Bond, Ian Fleming
“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” – Gloria Steinem
“The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe
“Truth is like surgery. It hurts but cures. Lie is like a painkiller. It gives instant relief but has side effects forever.” – Unknown
“The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.” – Bob Marley
“The bitterest truth is that we can’t change the past, we can only learn from it.” – Unknown
“The bitter truth is that we live in a world where the powerful exploit the powerless and the rich exploit the poor.” – Desmond Tutu
Truth Quotes About Life
“People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe.” – Andy Rooney
“Men ardently pursue truth, assuming it will be angels’ bread when found.” – W. MacNeile Dixon
“There is nothing so strong or safe in an emergency of life as the simple truth.” – Charles Dickens
“Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond.” – Hypatia
“We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.” – Iris Murdoch
“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.” – W. Clement Stone
“Gentle truth will at last cease to be gentle and crush him who rejects her.” – James Lendall Basford
“The trouble about man is twofold. He cannot learn truths which are too complicated; he forgets truths which are too simpl.” – Rebecca West
“Don’t keep searching for the truth, just let go of your opinion.”
“By sooth-saying it is quite possible to make a living in the world, but not by truth-saying.” – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
“The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.” – James A. Garfield
“The truth is more important than the facts.” – Frank Lloyd Wright
“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.” – Elvis Presley
“Truth is the breath of life to human society.” – M.K. Gandhi
“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Truth never damages a cause that is just.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Truth is the foundation of all knowledge and the cement of all society.” – John Dryden
“The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.” – Augustine of Hippo
“There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.” – Leo Tolstoy
“The truth is always the strongest argument.” – Sophocles
“Truth is powerful and it prevails.” – Sojourner Truth
“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.” – Albert Einstein
Truth Quotes About Love
“I’d rather be hated for who I am, rather than loved for who I am not.” – Kurt Cobain
“To love our neighbor as ourselves is such a truth for regulating human society, that by that alone one might determine all the cases in social moralit.” – John Locke
“You can hate me. You can go out there and say anything you want about me, but you will love me later because I told you the trut.” – Mary J. Blige
“Let us dream of tomorrow where we can truly love from the soul, and know love as the ultimate truth at the heart of all creatio.” – Michael Jackson
“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me trut.” – Henry David Thoreau
“Love truth, but pardon erro.” – Voltaire
“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.” – Osho
“Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused.” – Paulo Coelho
“The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.” – Victor Hugo
“Love is not just a feeling, it’s an action. It’s the choices we make every day to put someone else’s happiness above our own.” – Unknown
“Love is not about finding the right person, but creating a right relationship.” – Anon
“Love is like the wind, you can’t see it but you can feel it.” – Nicholas Sparks
“To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage.” – Lao Tzu
“Love is not about how much you say ‘I love you,’ but how much you can prove that it’s true.” – Unknown
“True love is when your heart and your mind are saying the same thing.” – Leanna L. Bartram
“Love is not just a word, it’s an action. It’s a verb that you must put into action in order to truly experience it.” – Unknown
“Love is not about what we have been through, but about how we overcome what we have been through together.” – Unknown
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“Love is not about possession, it’s about appreciation.” – Unknown
“The greatest gift you can give someone is your love. It’s the only thing you can give that will truly be yours forever.” – Unknown
“True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about but few have seen.” – Francois de La Rochefoucauld
“Love is not about finding someone to live with, it’s about finding someone you can’t live without.” – Unknown
“Love is not about being perfect, it’s about accepting each other’s imperfections.” – Unknown
“Love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness: the truth more first than sun, more last than star.” – E.E. Cummings
“Love is not about how many days, months or years you’ve been together. It’s all about how much you love each other every day.” – Unknown
Speak The Truth Quotes
“People often claim to hunger for truth, but seldom like the taste when it’s served up.” – George R.R. Martin
“Be Impeccable with Your Word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.” – Don Miguel Ruiz
“It is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth.” – Oscar Wilde
“Before speaking, consult your inner-truth barometer, and resist the temptation to tell people only what they want to heard.” – Wayne W. Dyer
“Stop holding your truth; speak your truth. Be yourself. It’s the healthiest way to be.” – Tiffany Haddish
“If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?” – Dōgen Zenji
“The greatest enemy of any one of our truths may be the rest of our truth.” – William James
“Pretending to be someone you’re not is a waste of the person you are.” – Kurt Cobain
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” – George Orwell
“For every good reason there is to lie, there is a better reason to tell the truth.” – Bo Bennett
“I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it’s for or agains.” – Malcolm X
“One of life’s regrets is that you didn’t always tell the truth, and now it’s too late, because the truth has changed.” – Robert Brault
“When I tell any truth, it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do.” – William Blake
“Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.” – Nikola Tesla
“Tell the truth, or someone will tell it for you.” – Stephanie Klein
“Truth only reveals itself when one gives up all preconceived idea.” – Shoseki
“It is a sad regret to have searched for the truth and settled for an answer.” – Robert Brault
“I want to see truth. I want to see the world the way it is. Not through my filters. Not through my desires. Not through the way that other people want me to see it. And I want to accept it the way it is.” – Naval Ravikant
“The earth is supported by the power of truth; it is the power of truth that makes the sun shine and the winds blow; indeed, all things rest upon truth.” – Chanakya
“Understanding is a three edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth.” – J. Michael Straczynski
“Our duty is to encourage everyone in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.” – Swami Vivekananda
“It will never be possible by pure reason to arrive at some absolute truth.” – Werner Heisenberg
“Truth never hides; yet how hard to find.” – James Lendall Basford
“Seek truth and you will find a pat.” – Frank Slaughter
“Error is sometimes so nearly allied to truth, that it blends with it as imperceptibly as the colours of the rainbow fade into each other.” – William Benton Clulow
“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” – Albert Einstein
“I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want.” – Muhammad Ali
“Theories are private property, but truth is common stoc.” – Charles Caleb Colton
“Nothing possesses greater magnetism than the simple truth well spoken.” – James Lendall Basford
“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.” – Flannery O’Connor
“Every truth bends and reshapes itself or is reshaped by other force.” – Leslie Woolf Hedley
“We shall advance when we have learned humility; when we have learned to seek truth, to reveal it and publish it; when we care more for that than for the privilege of arguing about ideas in a fog of uncertainty.” – Walter Lippmann
“The small truth has words that are clear; the great truth has great silence.” – Rabindranath Tagore
“Fortunately there have always been men whose larger minds could adapt themselves to the truth instead of narrowing the truth to them.” – Thomas Wentworth Higginson
“I am the fellow citizen of every being that thinks; my country is Truth.” – Alphonse de Lamartine
Truth And Lies Quotes
“Proof is boring. Proof is tiresome. Proof is an irrelevance. People would far rather be handed an easy lie than search for a difficult truth, especially if it suits their own purposes.” – Joe Abercrombie
“As change is the order of Nature, and beauty springs from decay, so in its destined season the false for the true makes way.” – Alice Carey
“Once an absurdity is accepted as truth, it will seem truer the more absurd it is shown to be.” – Robert Brault
“A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.” – Tim O’Brien
“The naked truth is always better than the best-dressed lie.” – Ann Landers
“The truth doesn’t always set you free; people prefer to believe prettier, neatley wrapped lie.” – Jodi Picoult
“If there be no God, then what is the truth but the average of all lies.” – Robert Brault
“Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies.” – Dorothy Allison
“There is no truth. There is only perception.” – Gustave Flaubert
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” – Mark Twain
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.” – Mark Twain
“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” – Mark Twain
“Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it.”
“A half-truth is the most cowardly of lies.”
“When in doubt tell the truth. It will confound your enemies and astound your friends.”
“If you tell the truth you do not need a good memory!”
“Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are economical in its use.”
“Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”
Truth And Honesty Quotes
“Honest communication is built on truth and integrity and upon respect of the one for the other.” – Benjamin E. Mays
“It is wise not to seek a secret and honest not to reveal it.” – Benjamin Franklin
“We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters… that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules… and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.” – Michelle Obama
“Some people think that the truth can be hidden with a little cover-up and decoration. But as time goes by, what is true is revealed, and what is fake fades away.” – Ismail Haniyeh
“Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe.” – Henry David Thoreau
“The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.” – John F. Kennedy
“When one has one’s hand full of truth it is not always wise to open it.” – French Proverb
“It is error alone which needs the support of the government. Truth can stand by itself.” – Thomas Jefferson
“Truth bends abashed, and answers not.” – Thomas Hardy
“I believe there’s an inner power that makes winners or losers. And the winners are the ones who really listen to the truth of their heart.” – Sylvester Stallone
“There is no Truth. There is only the truth within each moment.” – Ramana Maharshi
“Error is not always the result of a want of education, but often a lack of power to comprehend the truth.” – James Lendall Basford
“A great man does not seek applause or place; he seeks for truth; he seeks the road to happiness, and what he ascertains, he gives to other.” – Robert Green Ingersoll
“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” – Arthur Conan Doyle
In Conclusion
The truth is an elusive concept, as it can be subjective and dependent on individual perspectives and experiences. However, truth generally refers to a statement or fact that is accurate, verifiable, and corresponds to reality.
In conclusion, seeking the truth is a valuable pursuit. It allows us to understand the world, make informed decisions, and build meaningful relationships based on honesty and integrity. It is essential to approach the search for truth with an open mind, critical thinking, and a willingness to consider different perspectives and evidence. Pursuing truth requires ongoing questioning, exploration, and evaluation of information as our understanding of reality constantly evolves.
Which of these truth quotes resonated with you best? Do you have any other favorite quotes to add to the list? Let us know in the comment section below.