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Truth: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
Yet the deepest truths are best read between the lines, and, for the most part, refuse to be written.— AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT — Concord Days.
June. Goethe. But no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon on the vantage ground of Truth.— BACON — Essays. Of Truth.
Who never doubted, never half believed, Where doubt, there truth is, -'tis her shadow. C.— BAILEY — Festus. Sc. A Country Town. Market-Place. Noon. L. 29.
How sweet the words of Truth, breath'd from the lips of Love.— BEATTIE — The Minstrel. Bk. II. St. 53.
Whoever lives true life will love true love.— E. B. BROWNING — Aurora Leigh. Bk. I. L. 1,096.
Truth crushed to earth shall rise again: Th' eternal years of God are hers; But Error, wounded, writhes in pain, And dies among his worshippers.— BRYANT — The Battle Field. St. 9.
For truth is precious and divine; Too rich a pearl for carnal swine.— BUTLER — Hudibras. Pt. II. Canto II. Canto II. L. 257.
More proselytes and converts use t' accrue To false persuasions than the right and true; For error and mistake are infinite, But truth has but one way to be i' th' right.— BUTLER — Miscellaneous Thoughts. L. 113.
True as the dial to the sun, Although it be not shin'd upon.— BUTLER — Hudibras. Pt. III. Canto II. L. 175.
But now being lifted into high society, And having pick'd up several odds and ends Of free thoughts in his travels for variety, He deem'd, being in a lone isle, among friends, That without any danger of a riot, he Might for long lying make himself amends; And singing as he sung in his warm youth, Agree to a short armistice with truth.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto III. St. 83.
No words suffice the secret soul to show, For Truth denies all eloquence to Woe.— BYRON — The Corsair. Canto III. St. 22.
'Tis strange-but true; for truth is always strange, Stranger than fiction.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto XIV. St. 101.
A man protesting against error is on the way towards uniting himself with all men that believe in truth.— CARLYLE — Heroes and Hero Worship.
Lecture IV. We have oftener than once endeavoured to attach some meaning to that aphorism, vulgarly imputed to Shaftesbury, which however we can find nowhere in his works, that "ridicule is the test of truth."— CARLYLE — Essays. Voltaire.
When fiction rises pleasing to the eye, Men will believe, because they love the lie; But truth herself, if clouded with a frown, Must have some solemn proof to pass her down.— CHURCHILL — Epistle to Hogarth. L. 291.
O, Truth is easy, and the light shines clear In hearts kept open, honest and sincere.— ABRAHAM COLES — The Evangel. P. 183.
The power to bind and loose to Truth is given: The mouth that speaks it is the mouth of Heaven. The power, which in a sense belongs to none, Thus understood belongs to every one.— ABRAHAM COLES — The Evangel. P. 181.
But truths on which depends our main concern, That 'tis our shame and misery not to learn, Shine by the side of every path we tread With such a lustre he that runs may read.— COWPER — Tirocinium. L. 77.
But what is truth? 'Twas Pilate's question put To Truth itself, that deign'd him no reply.— S. COWPER — The Task. Bk. III. L. 270.
For truth is unwelcome, however divine.— COWPER — The Flatting Mill. St. 6.
Jane borrow'd maxims from a doubting school, And took for truth the test of ridicule; Lucy saw no such virtue in a jest, Truth was with her of ridicule the test.— CRABBE — Tales of the Hall. Bk. VIII. L. 126.
Nature *** has buried truth deep in the bottom of the sea.— DEMOCRITUS — Quoted by Cicero. Academic Questions. Bk. II. Ch. X.
C. D. Yonge's trans. For truth has such a face and such a mien, As to be lov'd needs only to be seen.— DRYDEN — The Hind and the Panther. Pt. I. L. 33.
Truth has rough flavours if we bite it through.— GEORGE ELIOT — Armgart. Sc. 2.
The nobler the truth or sentiment, the less imports the question of authorship.— EMERSON — Letters and Social Aims.
Quotation and Originality. Though love repine and reason chafe, There came a voice without reply, "Tis man's perdition to be safe, When for the truth he ought to die."— EMERSON — Quatrains. Sacrifice.
Truth only smells sweet forever, and illusions, however innocent, are deadly as the canker worm.— FROUDE — Short Studies on Great
Subjects. Calvinsim. Lest men suspect your tale untrue, Keep probability in view.— GAY — The Painter who Pleased Nobody
and Everybody. One truth discovered is immortal, and entitles its author to be so: for, like a new substance in nature, it cannot be destroyed.— HAZLITT — The Spirit of the Age.
Jeremy Bentham. Dare to be true, nothing can need a lie; A fault which needs it most, grows two thereby.— HERBERT — The Temple. The Church
Porch. Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day, like a foot-ball, and it will be round and full at evening.— O. W. HOLMES — The Professor at the
Breakfast Table. V. The best way to come to truth being to examine things as really they are, and not to conclude they are, as we fancy of ourselves, or have been taught by others to imagine.— LOCKE — Human Understanding. Bk. II. Ch. XII.
To love truth for truth's sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all other virtues.— LOCKE — Letter to Anthony Collins, Esq.
Oct. 29, 1703. When by night the frogs are croaking, kindle but a torch's fire; Ha! how soon they all are silent! Thus Truth silences the liar.— FRIEDRICH VON LOGAU — See
Longfellow's trans. Poetic Aphorisms. Truth. Get but the truth once uttered, and 'tis like A star new-born that drops into its place And which, once circling in its placid round, Not all the tumult of the earth can shake.— LOWELL — A Glance Behind the Curtain. L. 173.
Put golden padlocks on Truth's lips, be callous as ye will, From soul to soul, o'er all the world, leaps one electric thrill.— LOWELL — On the Capture of Certain
Fugitive Slaves near Washington. Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust, Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and 'tis prosperous to be just; Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside, Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified.— LOWELL — The Present Crisis.
Truth forever on the scaffold. Wrong forever on the throne.— LOWELL — The Present Crisis.
Arm thyself for the truth!— BULWER-LYTTON — The Lady of Lyons. Act V. Sc. 1.
Truth makes on the ocean of nature no one track of light-every eye looking on finds its own.— BULWER-LYTTON — Caxtoniana.
Essay XIV. But there is no veil like light-no adamantine armor against hurt like the truth.— GEORGE MACDONALD — The Marquis of Lossie. Ch. LXXI.
Truth, when not sought after, sometimes comes to light. S.— MENANDER — Ex Verberatá. P. 160.
Not a truth has to art or to science been given, But brows have ached for it, and souls toil'd and striven; And many have striven, and many have fail'd, And many died, slain by the truth they assail'd. OWEN MEREDITH (Lord Lytton)- Lucile. Pt. II. Canto VI. St. 1. Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old, When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones, Forget not. и.— MILTON — Sonnet. Massacre in
Piedmont. Truth is as impossible to be soiled by any outward touch as the sunbeam.— MILTON — The Doctrine and Discipline
of Divorce. Who ever knew truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?— MILTON — Areopagitica.
I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little the more as I grow older.— MONTAIGNE — Essays. Of Repentance.
This world is all a fleeting show, For man's illusion given; The smiles of joy, the tears of woe, Deceitful shine, deceitful flow, - There's nothing true but Heaven.— MOORE — This World is all a Fleeting
Show. Farewell then, verse, and love, and ev'ry toy, The rhymes and rattles of the man or boy; What right, what true, what fit we justly call, Let this be all my care for this is all. C.— POPE — First Book of Horace. Ep. I. L. 17.
'Tis not enough your counsel still be true; Blunt truths more mischief than nice falsehoods do.— POPE — Essay on Criticism. Pt. III. L. 13.
When truth or virtue an affront endures, Th' affront is mine, my friend, and should be yours.— POPE — Epilogue to Satires. Dialogue II. L. 207.
And simple truth miscall'd simplicity, And captive good attending captain ill.— Shakespeare — Sonnet LXVI.
But 'tis strange: And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray 's In deepest consequence.— Shakespeare — Macbeth. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 122.
But wonder on, till truth make all things plain. Midsummer-Night's Dream. Act. V. Sc. 1. L. 129. If circumstances lead me, I will find Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed Within the centre.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 157.
Mark now, how a plain tale shall put you down.— Shakespeare — Henry IV. Pt. I. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 281.
Methinks the truth should live from age to age, As 'twere retail'd to all posterity, Even to the general all-ending day.— Shakespeare — Richard III. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 76.
Tell truth and shame the devil. If thou have power to raise him, bring him hither, And I'll be sworn I have power to shame him hence.— Shakespeare — Henry IV. Pt. I. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 59.
That truth should be silent I had almost forgot.— Shakespeare — Antony and Cleopatra. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 110.
They breathe truth that breathe their words in pain.— Shakespeare — Richard II. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 8.
To thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 78.
Truth is truth To the end of reckoning.— Shakespeare — Measure for Measure. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 45.
Truth needs no colour, with his colour fix'd, Beauty no pencil, beauty's truth to lay; But best is best, if never intermix'd.— Shakespeare — Sonnet CI.
What, can the devil speak true?— Shakespeare — Macbeth. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 107.
The truth is always right.— S. SOPHOCLES — Antigone. 1195. Oxford
trans. (Revised by Buckley.) Truth and, by consequence, liberty, will always be the chief power of honest men.— MADAME DE STAËL — Coppet et Weimar.
Letter to Gen. Moreau Truth is the work of God; lies are the works of man. MADAME DE STAËL Germany. Pt. IV. Ch. II Tell truth, and shame the devil.— SWIFT — Mary, the Cookmaid's Letter.
And friendly free discussion calling forth From the fair jewel Truth its latent ray.— THOMSON — Liberty. Pt. II. L. 220.
There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.— VOLTAIRE — Letter to Cardinal de Bernis.
April 23, 1761. There is nothing so powerful as truth; and often nothing so strange.— DANIEL WEBSTER — Argument on the Murder of Captain White. Vol. VI.
P. 68. The sages say, Dame Truth delights to dwell (Strange Mansion!) in the bottom of a well: Questions are then the Windlass and the rope That pull the grave old Gentlewoman up. JOHN WOLCOTT (Peter Pindar)- Birthday Ode. Truths that wake To perish never.— WORDSWORTH — Ode. Intimations of Immortality. St. 9.
Truth never was indebted to a lie.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night VIII. L. 587.
Pericula veritati sæpe contigua. Truth is often attended with danger.— AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS — Annales.
Veritatis absolutus sermo ac semper est simplex. The language of truth is unadorned and always simple.— AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS — Annales.
XIV. 10. Judicis est semper in causis verum sequi. It is a judge's duty in all trials to follow truth.— CICERO — De Officiis. II. 14.
Naturâ inest mentibus nostris insatiabilis quædam cupiditas veri videndi. Our minds possess by nature an insatiable desire to know the truth.— CICERO — Tusculanarum Disputationum.
I. 18. Nihil est veritatis luce dulcius. Nothing is more delightful than the light of truth.— CICERO — Academici. IV. 10.
O magna vis veritas! O mighty power of truth!— CICERO — Oratio Pro Cælio Rufo.
Ego verum amo, verum volo mihi dici; mendacem odi. I love truth and wish to have it always spoken to me: I hate a liar.— PLAUTUS — Mostellaria. I. 3. 26.
Dum omnia quærimus, aliquando ad verum, ubi minime expectavimus, pervenimus. While we are examining into everything we sometimes find truth where we least expected it.— QUINTILIAN — De Institutione Oratoria.
XII. 8. 3. Involuta veritas in alto latet. Truth lies wrapped up and hidden in the depths. C.— SENECA — De Beneficiis. VII. 1.
Veritas odit moras. Truth hates delays.— SENECA — Edipus. 850.
La vérité n'a point cet air impétueux. Truth has not such an urgent air.— BOILEAU — L'Art Poétique. I. 198.
La vérité ne fait pas tant de bien dans le monde, que ses apparences y font de mal. Truth does not do so much good in the world, as the appearance of it does evil.— LA ROCHEFOUCAULD — Maximes. 59.
Le contraire des bruits qui courent des affaires ou des personnes est souvent la vérité. The opposite of what is noised about concerning men and things is often the truth. C.— LA BRUYÈRE — Les Caractères. XII.
Le vrai peut quelquefois n'être pas vraisemblable. At times truth may not seem probable.— BOILEAU — L'Art Poétique. III. 48.
Si je tenais toutes les vérités dans ma main, je me donnerais bien de garde de l'ouvrir aux hommes. If I held all of truth in my hand I would beware of opening it to men.