Truth

Truth never has suffered in a fair and open discussion.
~ William Adams, D.D., Thanksgiving: Memories of the Day; Helps to the Habit (1867). The Past and the Present

When there is a hungering for truth, the mind takes it in; when the heart loves divine truth, the memory retains it.
~ William Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth: Illustrations of the Book of Proverbs (1857). XIV. A Good Memory

Truth is the voice of Nature and of time.
~ William Thompson Bacon, Poems (1837). Thoughts in Solitude

Who its truth believeth
Light and joy receiveth.
~ Sir Henry Williams Baker, in Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern (1861 hymnal). Lord, Thy Word Abideth

The truth isn't the truth until people believe you, and they can't believe you if they don't know what you're saying, and they can't know what you're saying if they don't listen to you, and they won't listen to you if you're not interesting, and you won't be interesting unless you say things imaginatively, originally, freshly.
~ Bill Bernbach, Bill Bernbach said ... (1989).

A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.
~ William Blake, from The Pickering Manuscript (c. 1803). Auguries of Innocence

Error is created. Truth is eternal.
~ William Blake, from A Vision of the Last Judgment (c. 1810).

Establishment of Truth depends on destruction of Falshood continually.
~ William Blake, from Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion (1804). Chapter 3

Every thing possible to be believ'd is an image of truth.
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). Proverbs of Hell

God forbid that Truth should be confined to Mathematical Demonstration!
~ William Blake, in The Life of William Blake, Volume I (1863). Notes on Reynolds' Discourses (written c. 1798-1808; aka Annotations to The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds).

Nothing can be more contemptible than to suppose Public RECORDS to be true.
~ William Blake

Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believed.
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). Proverbs of Hell

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, in The Life of William Blake, Volume II (1863). Prose Writings. Public Address

To ignore the evidence, and hope that it cannot be true, is more an evidence of mental illness.
~ William Blase, in The Courier (1995). The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and The New World Order

We all want to be happy, and we're all going to die. You might see those are the only two unchallengeably true facts that apply to every human being on this planet.
~ William Boyd, Stars and Bars (1984).

Keep the truth, and the truth will keep you.
~ William Bridge, in The Works of the Rev. William Bridge, M.A., Volume I (1845 edition). Epistle Dedicatory

There should be no conflict between the discoverers of real truths, because real truths do not conflict.
~ William Jennings Bryan, from In His Image (1922). IV: The Origin of Man

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.
~ William Cullen Bryant, in The United States Democratic Review, vol. 1, issue 1 (October 1837). The Battle-Field

Truth gets well if she is run over by a locomotive, while error dies of lockjaw if she scratches her finger.
~ William Cullen Bryant

Truth is a demure lady, much too ladylike to knock you on your head and drag you to her cave. She is there, but people must want her, and seek her out.
~ William F. Buckley, Jr.

Truth is used to vitalize a statement rather than devitalize it. Truth implies more than a simple statement of fact. "I don't have any whiskey," may be a fact but it is not a truth.
~ William S. Burroughs, The Adding Machine (1985). On Coincidence

Higher and wider heavenward spreads
The ancient tree of truth.
~ William Wilfred Campbell, Beyond the Hills of Dream (1899). The Tree of Truth

A speaker of truth to all men, he carried his will with a word.
~ (William) Bliss Carman, from Pipes of Pan, Number Five (1905). From the Book of Valentines. Ballad of the Young King's Madness

Artistic growth is, more than it is anything else, a refining of the sense of truthfulness. The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is.
~ Willa Sibert Cather, The Song of the Lark (1915). Part VI. Kronborg. Chapter XI

Infinite truth is before us. Why do we see only what we saw before!
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), in Dr. Channing's Note-book (1887). Truth

Is not truth the natural aliment of the mind, as plainly as the wholesome grain is of the body?
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), Lectures On The Elevation Of The Labouring Portion Of The Community (1840). Lecture II (delivered in Boston MA; 16 January 1840)

The greatest truths are wronged if not linked with beauty, and they win their way most surely and deeply into the soul when arrayed in this their natural and fit attire.
~ William Ellery Channing, Address Introductory to the Franklin Lectures, Boston MA (September 1838). On Self-Culture

Truth is a conquest, and no man holds her so fast as he who has won her by conflict.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), from Discourses, Reviews, and Miscellanies (1830). Discourse at the Dedication of Divinity Hall (Cambridge, 1826)

Truth is the light of the Infinite Mind. ... Nothing endures but truth.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), Lectures On The Elevation Of The Labouring Portion Of The Community (1840). Lecture I (delivered in Boston MA; 9 January 1840)

Wait not to be backed by numbers. Wait not till you are sure of an echo from a crowd. The fewer the voices on the side of truth, the more distinct and strong must be your own.
~ William Ellery Channing, Address at the Second Congregational Church, Northampton, MA (20 May 1840). Charge at the Ordination of the Rev. John Sullivan Dwight

Whatever you may suffer, speak the truth. Be worthy of the entire confidence of your associates.
~ William Ellery Channing, from Memoir of William Ellery Channing: With Extracts from His Correspondence and Manuscripts (1848), Vol. II. Part III. Chapter VII: Home Life

Truths possess only half their value, till confirmed by experience.
~ William Benton (W.B.) Clulow, Horæ otiosæ; or, Thoughts, Maxims, and Opinions (1833). Part III. On Life, Men, and Manners

Truth is above harmony. Those who fear disorder more than injustice invariably produce more of both.
~ Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., from Credo (2003). Social Justice and Economic Rights

And Truth, in sunny vest arrayed,
By whose the tarsel's eyes were made.
~ William Collins, from Odes on Several Descriptive and Allegoric Subjects (1746). Ode on the Poetical Character (1746).

Well may your hearts believe the truths I tell:
'Tis virtue makes the bliss, where'er we dwell.
~ William Collins, Persian Eclogues (1742). I, Selim; or, The Shepherd's Moral

It is the nature of Truth to struggle to the light.
~ (William) Wilkie Collins, Man and Wife (1870). Chapter 28: Stifled

Some can flatter, some can feign,
Simple truth shall plead for me.
~ William Corkine, Airs to Sing and Play to the Lute and Bass-viol (1610).

And diff'ring judgments serve but to declare,
That truth lies somewhere, if we knew but where.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Hope

He is the freeman whom the truth makes free.
And all are slaves beside.
~ William Cowper, The Task (1785). Book V. The Winter Morning Walk

Not blind by choice, but destined not to see.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Truth

On all the vestiges of truth attend,
And let them guide you to a decent end.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Conversation

Parent of Hope, immortal Truth! make known
Thy deathless wreaths and triumphs all thine own.
The silent progress of thy power is such,
Thy means so feeble, and despised so much,
That few believe the wonders thou hast wrought,
And none can teach them but whom thou hast taught.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Hope

[T]ruth is unwelcome, however divine.
~ William Cowper, in Poems, by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq., Volume II (1815 edition). The Flatting-Mill. An Illustration

I merely vouch for certain facts, my only object being -- the truth.
~ William Crookes, from the Quarterly Journal of Science (1 October 1871). Some Further Experiments On Psychic Force

Truth's a discovery made by travelling minds.
~ Sir William Davenant

Truth does not deal in novelty, but in age-long endurance.
~ (William) Robertson Davies, in The Merry Heart: Reflections on Reading, Writing, and the World of Books (1997). Chapter 16. World of Wonders

[I]t is not the job of the truth to make us feel good. It is the job of the truth to be true, and it is our job to deal with it.
~ William Deresiewicz, in The Nation magazine (29 May 2006). Dead Man

The way to combat noxious ideas is with other ideas. The way to combat falsehoods is with truth.
~ William Orville Douglas, in The Mike Wallace Interview, "Survival and Freedom" series (11 May 1958).

Falsehood is a polished exterior, but truth is a gemmed interior.
~ William Scott Downey, Proverbs, by Rev. William Scott Downey (1851 edition).

The fact is, the ultimate proof of all truth is its truth, and not its proofs. What is true is going to live in the faith of men, and to prove itself ever more and more to them; no other proof is essential, or can retain its force unimpaired by time or change.
~ William Porcher Dubose, The Soteriology of the New Testament (1892).

When it comes to telling fish stories, I know that, while a man may have a first class reputation for truth and veracity, still, when it comes to his telling about his fishing, it is permissible to be a first class liar.
~ William Turner (W.T.) Ellis, Memories; My Seventy-Two Years In The Romantic County Of Yuba, California (1939). Chapter IV: Vacations

The world can absorb only doses of truth; too much would kill it.
~ William Maxwell Evarts, quoted in The Education of Henry Adams (1906).

Truth is the gravitation principle of the universe by which it is supported, and in which it coheres.
~ William Maxwell Evarts

[F]acts and truth really don't have much to do with each other.
~ William Faulkner, in Faulkner at West Point (1964).

Every truth has relation to some other. And we should try to unite the facts of our knowledge so as to see them in their several bearings. This we do when we frame them into a system. To do so legitimately we must begin by analysis and end with synthesis.
~ William Fleming, The Vocabulary of Philosophy, Mental, Moral, and Metaphysical (1856).

[T]he best and highest meaning of the truth belongs to ourselves, -- so completely is man a part of all, so completely is all represented in man.
~ William Channing Gannett, from A Year of Miracle: A Poem In Four Sermons (1881). II. Resurrection

[T]ruth can never conduce to mischief, and is best discovered by plain words.
~ William Lloyd Garrison, in William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879: The Story Of His Life Told By His Children, Volume I (1885). Chapter VI: Baltimore Jail, and After--1830 (written in August 1830)

Truth is older than any parchment, and would still exist, though a universal conflagration should consume all the books in the world.
~ William Lloyd Garrison, from Selections from the Writings and Speeches of William Lloyd Garrison, Volume III (1852). Divine Authority of the Bible

A truth is a truth, whether delivered in the language of a philosopher, or a peasant: and the intellect receives it as such.
~ William Gilpin, from Three Essays: On Picturesque Beauty; On Picturesque Travel; and On Sketching Landscape (1792). Essay I

If there be such a thing as truth, it must infallibly be struck out by the collision of mind with mind.
~ William Godwin, An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793).

It is the property of truth to spread.
~ William Godwin, An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793).

I'll tell you the truth, and it's up to you to live with it.
~ William Goldman, The Princess Bride (1973).

We can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth.
~ William Elliot Griffis, from Welsh Fairy Tales (1921). XIII. A Boy That Visited Fairyland

All truth is reducible to an unity, like lines they lovingly meet in one centre.
~ William Gurnall, The Christian In Complete Armour (1665).

It is not enough to have truth on our side, if we have not truth in our hearts.
~ William Gurnall, The Christian In Complete Armour (1665).

Not every one that now applauds truth will follow it, when once it comes to show them the way to prison.
~ William Gurnall, The Christian In Complete Armour (1665).

Truth lies deep, and must be digged for.
~ William Gurnall, The Christian In Complete Armour (1665).

Conformity to truth is beauty, real and permanent. Study nature. Seek truth.
~ William Hague, The Cultivation of Taste (c. 1841)

Truth, like a torch, the more it's shook it shines.
~ Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet, from Discussions on Philosophy and Literature, Education and University Reform (1852).

I would not charge with wilful falsehood any one who was sincerely anxious for truth, nor lay it to any one's door as a crime that he had fallen into error. I avow myself the partisan of truth alone; and I can indeed say that I have used all my endeavours, bestowed all my pains on an attempt to produce something that should be agreeable to the good, profitable to the learned, and useful to letters.
~ William Harvey, Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus (An Anatomical Exercise on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals; 1628). Dedication

An honest man speaks the truth, though it may give offence; a vain man, in order that it may.
~ William Hazlitt, Characteristics: in the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims (1823).

One truth discovered is immortal, and entitles its author to be so: for like a new substance in nature, it cannot be destroyed.
~ William Hazlitt, from The Spirit of the Age (1825). Jeremy Bentham

One truth discovered, one pang of regret at not being able to express it, is better than all the fluency and flippancy in the world.
~ William Hazlitt, in Winterslow, Essays and Characters Written There (1850). My First Acquaintance with Poets (first published in April, 1823)

The most efficient weapon of offence is truth.
~ William Hazlitt, in Sketches and Essays (1839). On Disagreeable People (written in 1827)

The inquirer after truth learns to take nothing for granted; least of all, to make an assumption of his own superior merits.
~ William Hazlitt, in New Monthly Magazine (December 1827). The Shyness of Scholars

There is nothing more likely to drive a person mad than the being unable to get rid of an idea of the distinction between right and wrong, and an obstinate, constitutional preference of the truth to the agreeable.
~ William Hazlitt, Lectures on the English Comic Writers (1819). On The English Novelists

True equality is the only true morality or true wisdom.
~ William Hazlitt, Table-talk; Or, Original Essays, Volume II (1825 edition). On The Conduct Of Life; or, Advice to a School-Boy (1822 essay)

Vice is man's nature: virtue is a habit -- or a mask. ... The foregoing maxim shows the difference between truth and sarcasm.
~ William Hazlitt, Characteristics: in the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims (1823).

Try to be conspicuously accurate in everything, pictures as well as text. Truth is not only stranger than fiction, it is more interesting.
~ William Randolph Hearst

It is a matter of perfect indifference where a thing originated; the only question is: Is it true in and for itself?
~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (G.W.F.) Hegel, The Philosophy of History (1832). Introduction

Whatever is reasonable is true, and whatever is true is reasonable.
~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (G.W.F.) Hegel

There are deeper myths, born of the permanent and universal aspirations of men. Such myths as these are never mere mythology, because they are founded on a literal and present truth.
~ William Ernest (W.E.) Hocking, quoted in Criswell Freeman The Wisdom of the West (1997).

Truth by itself is nothing -- a day-dream -- an impression on the memory. Its office is to bring the will into act through organic laws.
~ William Henry Holcombe, Aphorisms of the New Life (1883).

Essential truth, the truth of the intellectualists, the truth with no one thinking it, is like the coat that fits tho' no one has ever tried it on, like the music that no ear has listened to. It is less real, not more real, than the verified article; and to attribute a superior degree of glory to it seems little more than a piece of perverse abstraction-worship.
~ William James, in Philosophical Review (1908). The Pragmatist Account of Truth and Its Misunderstanders

I am no lover of disorder and doubt as such. Rather do I fear to lose truth by this pretension to possess it already wholly.
~ William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). Lectures XIV and XV: The Value of Saintliness

[I]f we take the universe of "fitting," countless coats "fit" backs, and countless boots "fit" feet, on which they are not practically fitted; countless stones "fit" gaps in walls into which no one seeks to fit them actually. In the same way countless opinions "fit" realities, and countless truths are valid, tho' no thinker ever thinks them.
~ William James, in Philosophical Review (1908). The Pragmatist Account of Truth and Its Misunderstanders

So I am against all big organizations as such, national ones first and foremost; against all big successes and big results; and in favor of the eternal forces of truth which always work in the individual and immediately unsuccessful way, under-dogs always, till history comes, after they are long dead, and puts them on top.
~ William James, in The Letters of William James, Vol. 2 (1920). XII. Letter to Mrs. Henry Whitman, 7 June 1899

Test every concept by the question "What sensible difference to anybody will its truth make?" and you are in the best possible position for understanding what it means and for discussing its importance.
~ William James, in Some Problems of Philosophy: A Beginning of an Introduction to Philosophy (1911). Chapter IV. Percept and Concept -- The Import of Concept

The 'absolutely' true, meaning what no farther experience will ever alter, is that ideal vanishing-point towards which we imagine that all our temporary truths will someday converge.
~ William James, from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (1907). Lecture VI. Pragmatism's Conception of Truth

The greatest enemy of any one of our truths may be the rest of our truths.
~ William James, from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (1907). Lecture II. What Pragmatism Means

The obstinate insisting that tweedledum is not tweedledee is the bone and marrow of life.
~ William James, The Principles of Psychology (1890). Vol. 2. Chapter XXVIII: Necessary Truths and the Effects of Experience

The true is the name of whatever proves itself to be good in the way of belief, and good, too, for definite, assignable reasons.
~ William James, from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (1907). Lecture II. What Pragmatism Means

The ultimate test for us of what a truth means is indeed the conduct it dictates or inspires.
~ William James, Address Before the Philosophical Union, University of California (26 August 1898). The Pragmatic Method

Truth, as any dictionary will tell you, is a property of certain of our ideas. It means their "agreement," as falsity means their disagreement, with "reality."
~ William James, from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (1907). Lecture VI. Pragmatism's Conception of Truth

Truth for us is simply a collective name for verification-processes.
~ William James, from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (1907). Lecture VI. Pragmatism's Conception of Truth

Truth is essentially a relation between two things, an idea, on the one hand, and a reality outside of the idea, on the other.
~ William James, from The Meaning of Truth: A Sequel To 'Pragmatism' (1909). VII. Professor Pratt On Truth

[W]e never fully grasp the import of any true statement until we have a clear notion of what the opposite untrue statement would be.
~ William James, from The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897). Great Men and Their Environment

It is truth alone that lasts.
~ William George Jordan, The Power of Truth: Individual Problems and Possibilities (1902). The Power of Truth

There are two kinds of truths: those of reasoning and those of fact. The truths of reasoning are necessary and their opposite is impossible; the truths of fact are contingent and their opposites are possible.
~ Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, Discourses on Metaphysics and Monadology (1714).

The sum of a million facts is not the truth.
~ William Raymond Manchester, The Death of a President, November 20-November 25, 1963 (1967).

[H]e who sets one great truth afloat in the world serves his generation.
~ William Mathews, Getting on in the World: Or, Hints on Success in Life (1872). Chapter XVII: Economy of Time

Proverbs, it has been well said, should be sold in pairs, a single one being but a half-truth.
~ William Mathews, Getting on in the World: Or, Hints on Success in Life (1872). Chapter X. Decision

A thing is not true unless it is true for you.
~ William Allaudin (W.A.) Mathieu, The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music (1991).

Man has always sacrificed truth to his vanity, comfort and advantage. He lives by make believe.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up (1938).

To regard the successful experiences which ensue from a belief as a criterion of its truth is one thing -- and a thing that is sometimes bad and sometimes good -- but to assume that truth itself consists in the process by which it is verified is a different thing and always bad.
~ William Pepperell (W.P.) Montague, in Philosophy (1937). The Story of American Realism

Truth is a quality belonging primarily to judgments, and whatever our views as to its ultimate nature, I think we might all agree that a judgment is true when and only when it states a fact.
~ William Pepperell (W.P.) Montague, The Ways of Things: A Philosophy of Knowledge, Nature, and Value (1940).

[R]emember that the pursuit of truth for its own sake as the altogether lovely and desirable end of life is the highest aim of spirit on your plane of being, higher than earth's ambitions, nobler than any work that man can do.
~ William Stainton Moses (as M.A. Oxon), Spirit Teachings (1883). Section XXXII.

The entire cycle of truth is never publicly presented: only such fragments of it as are forced, by apparent accident, into publicity; here a little and there a little.
~ William Stainton Moses (as M.A. Oxon), Spirit Identity (1879). Introduction

Most of the stuff I've read about me has been true.
~ Willie Nelson

All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth come only from the senses.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Belief in the truth commences with the doubting of all those "truths" we once believed.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human. First Sequel: Mixed Opinions and Maxims (March 1879). Truth Will Have No Other Gods Alongside It

Deep is the well of truth and long does it take to know what has fallen into its depths
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

He who cannot lie doesn't know what truth is.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

In the mountains of truth, you never climb in vain. Either you already reach a higher point today, or you exercise your strength in order to be able to climb higher tomorrow.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human. First Sequel: Mixed Opinions and Maxims (March 1879).

Mystical explanations are considered deep. The truth is that they are not even superficial.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Gay Science (1882). Book III

One must never have spared oneself, one must have acquired hardness as a habit to be cheerful and in good spirits in the midst of nothing but hard truths.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Perhaps nobody yet has been truthful enough about what "truthfulness" is.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (1885-86).

The more abstract the truth you wish to teach, the more you must allure the senses to it.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

[The truth] is a mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, anthropomorphism, in short, a sum of human relations which were poetically and rhetorically heightened, transfered, and adorned, and after long use seem solid, canonical, and binding to a nation. Truths are illusions about which it has been forgotten that they are illusions.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

The will to truth! That will which is yet to seduce us into many a venture, that famous truthfulness of which all philosophers up to this time have spoken reverently -- think what questions this will to truth has posed for us! What strange, wicked, Questionable question!
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (1885-86).

There are no eternal facts, as there are no absolute truths.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

When we set truth on its head we usually fail to notice that our head too is not standing where it ought to stand.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human (1878).

For some people, there is no such thing as the truth.
~ Bill O'Reilly, FoxNews Channel, The O'Reilly Factor (22 November 2001).

We are chasing down the truth here and that is a hard game.
~ Bill O'Reilly, The No-Spin Zone (October 2001). Introduction

In seeking absolute truth, we aim at the unattainable and must be content with finding broken portions.
~ William Osler, from Aequanimitas: With Other Addresses to Medical Students, Nurses and Practioners of Medicine (1904). I. Aequanimitas (Valedictory address delivered at University of Pennsylvania; 1 May 1889)

No human being is constituted to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; and even the best of men must be content with fragments, with partial glimpses, never the full fruition.
~ William Osler, Farewell address given to American and Canadian Medical students, McGill University (1892). The Student Life

Facts are hard, stubborn things; so relative, so rare.
They limit all we know. Let us, my friend, beware!
~ William Hales Pallister, Poems of Science (1931). De Ipsa Natura, The Law of Logic

In all debates, let truth be thy aim; not victory or an unjust interest.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Part I. Rules Of Conversation

Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.
~ William Penn

The usefullest truths are plainest: and while we keep to them, our differences cannot rise high.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Part I. Inquiry

Where thou art Obliged to speak, be sure speak the Truth: For Equivocation is half way to Lying, as Lying, the whole way to Hell.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Part I. Truth

The self-evident truths announced in the Declaration of Independence are not truths at all, if taken literally; and the practical conclusions contained in the same passage of that Declaration prove that they were never designed to be so received.
~ William Pinkney, in Some Account Of The Life, Writings, And Speeches Of William Pinkney (1826). Part II. Number VII: Speech on the Missouri Question (in the U.S. Senate; 15 February 1820)

The evidence which truth carries with it is superior to all argument; it neither wants the support, nor dreads the opposition of the greatest abilities.
~ William Pitt (1st Earl of Chatham), Speech delivered in the House of Lords (on the case of John Wilkes; 9 January 1770).

Speak the truth, by all means: let it fall upon the hearts of men with all the imparted energy by which the spirit gives it power; but speak the truth in love.
~ William Morley (W.M.) Punshon, Lecture Delivered Before the Young Men's Christian Association (1857). John Bunyan

Truth is not a salad, is it? that you must always dress it with vinegar.
~ William Morley (W.M.) Punshon, from Lectures and Sermons (1873). Lectures. Daniel in Babylon

And this will be our test of the truth: When a message comes to you that seems to awaken a memory of an almost forgotten truth, then that truth is yours -- it may not be all of that truth, but as much as you feel is true is yours -- the rest will come in time.
~ Yogi Ramacharaka (William Walker Atkinson) (written in the early 1900's), in Advanced Course in Yoga Philosophy and Ancient Fundamentals (December 2000).

Facts have a cruel way of substituting themselves for fancies. There is nothing more remorseless, just as there is nothing more helpful, than truth.
~ William C. Redfield, Speech at Case School, Cleveland OH (27 May 1915).

Power and truth do not go together. This is a brutal, unfortunate truth.
~ Wilhelm Reich, The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1946 edition & translation; originally written in 1933). Chapter X. Work Democracy

He that is habituated to deceptions and artificialities in trifles, will try in vain to be true in matters of importance; for truth is a thing of habit rather than of will. You cannot in any given case by any sudden and single effort will to be true, if the habit of your life has been insincerity.
~ Frederick William (F.W.) Robertson

This world is given as the prize for the men in earnest; and that which is true of this world, is truer still of the world to come.
~ Frederick William (F.W.) Robertson

I guess truth can hurt you worse in an election than about anything that can happen to you.
~ Will Rogers

Rumor travels faster, but it don't stay put as long as truth.
~ Will Rogers, The Illiterate Digest (1924). Politics Getting Ready to Jell

Never assume the obvious truth is true.
~ William L. Safire, Sleeper Spy (1995).

Truth is simple. It is always simple. The Truth is easy and uncomplicated. It is tender and effortlessly available. Its location is not limited to the great libraries, nor to universities, temples and cathedrals. Truth, and the honest statements about it, are simplicity itself. It is found with the heart, with the Self, here and now.
~ William Samuel, A Guide to Awareness and Tranquillity (1967).

He knew the truth and was looking for something better.
~ William Saroyan, Jim Dandy, Fat Man in a Famine (1947).

[T]he basic truth of all things, as nearly as we may ever dream of determining and knowing this truth, is form, that which is, as it is. The way and shape of the thing no less than the thing itself.
~ William Saroyan, in My name is Saroyan (1983).

I therefore hold (as a general truth) that all men are sincere and honest; and I hold him to be merely a fool, who esteems me to be otherwise.
~ William Henry Seward, Speech in the U.S. Senate on the army bill (27 August 1856).

And now am I, if a man should speak truly, little better than one of the wicked.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I. Act I, scene ii

I am not merry, but I do beguile
That thing I am by seeming otherwise.
~ William Shakespeare, Othello. Act II, scene i

Like one
Who having into truth, by telling of it,
Made such a sinner of his memory,
To credit his own lie.
~ William Shakespeare, The Tempest. Act I, scene ii

My heart
Is true as steel.
~ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, scene i

Out with it boldly: truth loves open dealing.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VIII. Act III, scene i

Say as you think and speak it from your souls.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part II

'Tis not the many oaths that makes the truth,
But the plain single vow that is vow'd true.
~ William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well. Act IV, scene ii

[T]ruth hath a quiet breast.
~ William Shakespeare, King Richard II. Act I, scene iii

[T]ruth is truth to the end of reckoning.
~ William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure. Act V, scene i

What! can the devil speak true?
~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act I, scene iii

When truth kills truth, O devilish holy fray!
~ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act III, scene ii

[W]hile you live, tell truth and shame the devil.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I. Act III, scene i

Who tells me true, though in his tale lie death,
I hear him as he flatter'd.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act I, scene ii

For seldom shall she hear a tale
So sad, so tender, and so true.
~ William Shenstone, Jemmy Dawson (1745).

Bright with the beams of truth divine.
~ William Shrubsole, Jr., in Evangelical Magazine (1796). The Glory of the Church

Neither praise or blame is the object of true criticism. Justly to discriminate, firmly to establish, wisely to prescribe, and honestly to award -- these are the true aims and duties of criticism.
~ William Gilmore Simms, Egeria: Or, Voices of Thought and Counsel for the Woods and Wayside (1853).

The apothegm is the most portable form of Truth.
~ William Gilmore Simms, Egeria: Or, Voices of Thought and Counsel for the Woods and Wayside (1853).

I have tried to let the truth be my prejudice. It has taken much sweat. It has been worth it.
~ William (W.) Eugene Smith

With considerable soul searching, that to the utmost of my ability, I have let truth be the prejudice.
~ William (W.) Eugene Smith

John may have pushed his limitations in getting a pilot's license, but he hasn't overcome them yet. He's yet to persuade any of his relatives to fly with him.
~ William Kennedy Smith, quoted in USA Today (21 July 1999). Favorite son, forever fascinating

It is knowledge of truth, or truth as known, that has value.
~ William Ritchie ("W.R.") Sorley, from Moral Values and the Idea of God (1918 edition). II. Values

Truth is not always the best basis for happiness. There are certain lies which may constitute a far better and more secure foundation of happiness. There are people who perish when their eyes are opened.
~ Wilhelm Stekel, in Autobiography: The Life Story of a Pioneer Psychoanalyst (1950).

Truth will always be truth, regardless of lack of understanding, disbelief or ignorance.
~ William (W.) Clement Stone

It is the pursuit of truth which gives us life, and it is to that pursuit that our loyalty is due.
~ William Graham Sumner, in Earth-Hunger And Other Essays (1913). The Scientific Attitude Of Mind (1905 address)

An intuitive truth, which it is proper to detail, is an axiom; which it is needless to detail, is a truism.
~ William Taylor (of Norwich), English Synonyms Discriminated (1813).

There is but one general undisputed truth yet agreed on; that what ever lives must die.
~ Sir William Temple, 1st Baronet, in The Works of Sir William Temple, Bart., Vol. I (1720). Miscellanea, Part III. Heads, Designed For An Essay Upon The Different Conditions Of Life And Fortune

Truth will be uppermost, one time or other, like cork, though kept down in the water.
~ Sir William Temple, 1st Baronet, in The Works of Sir William Temple, Bart., Vol. I (1720). Miscellanea, Part III. Heads, Designed For An Essay Upon The Different Conditions Of Life And Fortune

[F]iction carries a greater amount of truth in solution than the volume which purports to be all true.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, from The English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century: A Series of Lectures (1853). Lecture the Third

Be it ever remembered that truth is the oldest of all things, whilst man is both new and fond of novelties.
~ W. (William) Bernard Ullathorne, The Endowments of Man (1880).

Committing a great truth to memory is admirable; committing it to life is wisdom.
~ William Arthur Ward

The more generous we are,
the more joyous we become.
The more cooperative we are,
the more valuable we become.
The more enthusiastic we are,
the more productive we become.
The more serving we are,
the more prosperous we become.
The more outgoing we are,
the more helpful we become.
The more curious we are,
the more creative we become.
The more patient we are,
the more understanding we become.
The more persistent we are,
the more successful we become.
~ William Arthur Ward, Truths For Living

Wise are they who have learned these truths: Trouble is temporary. Time is tonic. Tribulation is a test tube.
~ William Arthur Ward

You can lead people to the truth, but you can't make them understand it.
~ Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

In the discovery of truth, in the development of man's mental powers and privileges, each generation has its assigned part; and it is for us to endeavour to perform our portion of this perpetual task of our species.
~ William Whewell, Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Vol. 1 (1840). Book I. Chapter I: Introduction

Truth is consistent, and can bear the tug of war; error is incoherent, and falls to pieces in the struggle.
~ William Whewell, Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Vol. 2 (1840). Part II. Book XI, Chapter II. Of The Explication Of Conceptions

Truth: to her he not only gives his affections and his wishes, but strenuous labour and scrupulous minuteness of attention.
~ William Whewell, Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Vol. 2 (1840). Part II. Book XI, Chapter V. Of Certain Characteristics of Scientific Induction

The facts fairly and honestly presented; truth will take care of itself.
~ William Allen White

But one great truth in life I've found
While journeying to the West:
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, in Machinists Monthly Journal, v. 11 (1899). Life's Scars

The truest greatness lies in being kind,
The truest wisdom in a happy mind.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, from Poems of Power (1901). This Too Shall Pass Away

Be true to truth, but not turbulent and scornful.
~ Thomas Wilcox, A Choice Drop of Honey (c. 1650).

If you're going to tell people the truth, make them laugh, or they'll kill you.
~ Billy Wilder

It behoves everyone in search of Truth, always to preserve a philosophical liberty; not to be enslaved to the opinion of any man, as to think whatever he says to be infallible. We must labour to find out what things are in themselves by our own experiences ... not what another says of them. And if in such an impartial enquiry, we chance to light upon a new way, and that which is besides the common road, this is neither our fault, nor our unhappiness.
~ John Wilkins, A Discourse Concerning a New Planet (1640).

Truth provokes those whom it does not convert.
~ (Bishop) Thomas Wilson, in Maxims of Piety and of Christianity (first published in 1781).

With time, patience, and the spirit of desire to realize your own truth, you'll find them just where they've been all along. Inside of you.
~ Angel Kyodo Williams, Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living With Fearlessness and Grace (2000).

But truth is just like time, it catches up, and it just keeps going.
~ Dar Williams, As Cool as I Am

There is nothing immortal but truth.
~ Rev. George Washington Williams, Centennial Oration. Avondale OH (4 July 1876). The American Negro, From 1776 TO 1876

[W]e can best be exact about the cosmic things -- God and truth, beauty, eternity, and love -- by not talking directly about them.
~ Miller Williams, Making a Poem: Some Thoughts about Poetry and the People Who Write It (2006). Nobody Plays the Piano, but We Like to Have It in the House

Having bought truth dear, we must not sell it cheap, not the least grain of it for the whole world; no, not for the saving of souls, though our own most precious; least of all for the bitter sweetening of a little vanishing pleasure.
~ Roger Williams

We have no assurance that half-truth will make us free.
~ Roger J. Williams, Free and Unequal: The Biological Basis of Individual Liberty (1953).

Then talk not of Inconstancy,
False Hearts, and broken Vows;
If I, by Miracle, can be
This live-long Minute true to thee,
'Tis all that Heav'n allows.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl Of Rochester, from Poems on Several Occasions (1680). Love and Life

He takes the hand of Heavenly Fate,
Who lives and dies for truth!
~ William Winter, from The Poems of William Winter (1880). The Voice of the Silence

Fictions in form, but in their substance truths,
Tremendous truths! familiar to the men of long-past times, nor obsolete in ours.
~ William Wordsworth, The Excursion (1814). Book VI: The Churchyard among the Mountains

Truth justifies herself, and as she dwells
With Hope, who would not follow where she leads?
~ William Wordsworth, from The Recluse, Part I, Book I (published in 1888). Home at Grasmere (written c. 1800)

Truth takes no account of centuries.
~ William Wordsworth, in Conversations at Cambridge (1836). The Poet Wordsworth And Professor Smythe

How can they know
Truth flourishes where the student's lamp has shone,
And there alone, that have no solitude?
~ William Butler Yeats, from Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921). The Leaders of the Crowd

[I] am hunting truth into its thicket ...
~ William Butler Yeats, from The Autobiography of William Butler Yeats (1935).

Man can embody truth but he cannot know it.
~ William Butler Yeats, Letter (4 January 1939)

Though leaves are many, the root is one;
Through all the lying days of my youth
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun;
Now I may wither into the truth.
~ William Butler Yeats, from The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910). The Coming of Wisdom with Time

We taste and see and feel the truth. We do not reason ourselves into it.
~ William Butler Yeats, in Memoirs. Autobiography -- First Draft Journal (1972).