Quotes about Truth

Modern people…are ignorant of what they really are. We have simply forgotten what a human being really is, so we have men like Nietzsche and Freud and Adler, who tell us what we are, quite mercilessly. We have to discover our shadow. Otherwise we are driven into a world war in order to see what beasts we are.

People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.

Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and courage. But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us — and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along.

Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense.

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?

We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.

Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.

hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is the best policy.

Concerns about democracy's future are better directed elsewhere, John Paul argues, for if "there is no ultimate truth to guide and direct political activity, then ideas and convictions can easily be manipulated for reasons of power.

You may have orthodox heads, and yet you may have the devil in your hearts.