Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [21-40] of 754 Truth quotesTruth QuotesTruth Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes Philosophy means the complete liberty of the mind, and therefore independence of all social, political or religious prejudice... It loves one thing only... truth.~ Henri Frederic Amiel The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, and a lying government has constantly to rewrite its own history. On the receiving end you get not only one lie -- a lie which you could go on for the rest of your days -- but you get a great number of lies, depending on how the political wind blows. And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please.~ Hannah Arendt The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.~ Aristotle The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.~ Aristotle Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition.~ Isaac Asimov Truth always originates in a minority of one, and every custom begins as a broken precedent.~ Nancy Astor Give me chastity and self-restraint, but do not give it yet.~ Saint Augustine The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit, born of an intellectual conviction of the need for change in those mental attitudes and values which shape the course of a nation's development. A revolution which aims merely at changing official policies and institutions with a view to an improvement in material conditions has little chance of genuine success. Without a revolution in spirit, the forces which had produced inequities of the old order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration. It is not enough merely to call for freedom, democracy and human rights. There has to be a united determination to persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring truths, to resist the corrupting influences of desire, ill will, ignorance, and fear.~ Aung San Suu Kyi Men prefer to believe what they prefer to be true.~ Francis Bacon Knowledge is power.~ Sir Francis Bacon A forbidden writing is thought to be a certain spark of truth, that flies up in the face of them who seek to tread it out.~ Sir Francis Bacon Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true.~ Sir Francis Bacon For whatever deserves to exist deserves also to be known, for knowledge is the image of existence, and things mean and splendid exist alike.~ Sir Francis Bacon The man who fears no truths has nothing to fear from lies.~ Sir Francis Bacon There are in fact four very significant stumblingblocks in the way of grasping the truth, which hinder every man however learned, and scarcely allow anyone to win a clear title to wisdom, namely, the example of weak and unworthy authority, longstanding custom, the feeling of the ignorant crowd, and the hiding of our own ignorance while making a display of our apparent knowledge.~ Roger Bacon So long as there are earnest believers in the world, they will always wish to punish opinions, even if their judgment tells them it is unwise and their conscience tells them it is wrong.~ Walter Bagehot Weary the path that does not challenge. Doubt is an incentive to truth and patient inquiry leadeth the way.~ Hosea Ballou Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.~ Matsuo Basho The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended.~ Frederic Bastiat Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Thus the beneficiaries are spared the shame and danger that their acts would otherwise involve... But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to the other persons to whom it doesn't belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish that law without delay ... No legal plunder; this is the principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony and logic.~ Frederic Bastiat Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print