Truth is immutable.

[Sapiens]

Truth is immutable. If you are fortunate, there will come a day when you will comprehend how profound that statement is. All the shenanigans that we play, delusions, frauds, whatever; if it is not Truth, it must come to an end.

http://www.hinduism.co.za/truth.htm

Truth
The Mahabharata
Santi Parva, Section CLXII
Translated by Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli

Yudhishthira said: Brahmanas and Rishis and Pitris and the gods all applaud the duty of truth. I desire to hear of truth. Discourse to me upon it, O grandsire! What are the indications, O king, of truth? How may it be acquired? What is gained by practising truth, and how? Tell me all this.

Bhishma said: A confusion of the duties of the four orders is never applauded. That which is called Truth always exists in a pure and unmingled state in every one of those four orders. With those that are good, Truth is always a duty. Indeed, Truth is an eternal duty. One should reverentially bow unto Truth. Truth is the highest refuge (of all). Truth is duty; Truth is penance; Truth is Yoga; and Truth is the eternal Brahman. Truth has been said to be Sacrifice of a higher order. Everything rests upon Truth. I shall now tell thee the forms of Truths one after another, and its indications also in due order. It behoveth thee to hear also as to how Truth may be acquired.

Truth, O Bharata, as it exists in all the world, is of thirteen kinds. The forms that Truth assumes are impartiality, self-control, forgiveness, modesty, endurance, goodness, renunciation, contemplation, dignity, fortitude, compassion, and abstention from injury. These, O great monarch, are the thirteen forms of Truth. Truth is immutable, eternal, and unchangeable. It may be acquired through practices which do not militate against any of the other virtues. It may also be acquired through Yoga. When desire and aversion, as also lust and wrath, are destroyed, that attribute in consequence of which one is able to look upon one’s own self and one’s foe, upon one’s good and one’s evil, with an unchanging eye, is called impartiality.

Self control consists in never wishing for another man’s possessions, in gravity and patience and capacity to allay the fears of others in respect of one’s own self, and immunity from disease. It may be acquired through knowledge. Devotion to the practice of liberality and the observance of all duties are regarded by the wise as constituting goodwill. One comes to acquire universal goodwill by constant devotion to Truth.

As regards non-forgiveness and forgiveness, it should be stated that the attribute through which an esteemed and good man endures both what is agreeable and disagreeable, is said to be forgiveness. This virtue may well be acquired through the practice of truthfulness.

That virtue, in consequence of which an intelligent man, contented in mind and speech, achieves many good deeds and never incurs the censure of others, is called modesty. It is acquired through the aid of righteousness. That virtue which forgives for the sake of virtue and profit is called endurance. It is a form of forgiveness. It is acquired through patience, and its purpose is to attach people to one’s self. The casting off of affection as also of all earthly possessions, is called renunciation. Renunciation can never be acquired except by one who is divested of anger and malice.

That virtue in consequence of which one does good, with watchfulness and care, to all creatures is called goodness. It has no particular shape and consists in the divestment of all selfish attachments. That virtue owing to which one remains unchanged in happiness and misery is called fortitude. That wise man who desires his own good always practises this virtue. One should always practise forgiveness and devotedness to truth. That man of wisdom who succeeds in casting off joy and fear and wrath, succeeds in acquiring fortitude. Abstention from injury as regards all creatures in thought, word and deed, kindness and gift, are the eternal duties of those who are good.

These thirteen attributes, though apparently distinct from one another, have but one and the same form, viz., Truth. All these, O Bharata, support Truth and strengthen it. It is impossible, O monarch, to exhaust the merits of Truth. It is for these reasons that the Brahmanas, the Pitris, and the gods, applaud Truth. There is no duty that is higher than Truth, and no sin more heinous than untruth. Indeed, Truth is the very foundation of righteousness. For this reason, one should never destroy Truth. From Truth proceeds gifts, and sacrifice with presents, as well as the threefold Agnihotras (sacred fire ceremony), the Vedas, and everything else that leads to righteousness. Once upon a time a thousand horse-sacrifices and Truth were weighed against each other in the balance. Truth weighed heavier than a thousand horse-sacrifices.

[Sapiens]

The Argument for Truth

http://thetemple.wordpress.com/2007/...ent-for-truth/

The Argument for Truth
Augustine and Aquinas are credited with this argument but Gordon Clark gives a modern version of it (I am referencing and summarizing this argument from Life’s Ultimate Questions by Ronald Nash here, pp. 296-297).

Some features of the world demand a personal explanation. There appear to be two categories of explanation. Some things are explained scientifically: the formation of frost on my window on especially cold mornings. This effect is sufficiently explained by “causes, conditions and the relevant laws.” In addition, some effects demand a personal explanation, where “phenomena are explained in terms of a rational agent’s intenitonal action.” For example, we could explain a death by scientific means, the knife severing blood vessel and the loss of blood from the body. But the presence of the knife demands a personal explanation - you have to explain the presence of the knife in terms of some human’s intentional behavior.

Some universal things demand more than scientific explanation, truth for instance. Truth cannot be explained scientifically, rather it is the goal of scientific endeavor, but it exists outside of the boundaries of science. So the argument for truth goes like this:


1.Truth exists
2.Truth is immutable
3.Truth is eternal
4.Truth is mental
5.Truth is superior to the human mind
6.Truth is God

Truth exists: If there is knowledge, there must exist the object of knowledge, that is truth.

Truth is immutable: “It is impossible for truth to change.” If it is true, it is true today, and was true yesterday, and cannot change tomorrow to falsehood. (Not what we believe to be true, rather truth itself. What we believe to be true may not in fact be true and therefore could change).

Truth is eternal: Truth will exist even if every created thing were to cease existing. Even if you postulated that someday truth will cease to exist, then it would still be true that ceased to exist. Sounds like double talk I know…

Truth is mental: “The existence of truth presupposes the existence of minds. `Without a mind, truth could not exist. The object of knowledge is a proposition, a meaning, a significance; it is a thought’” The argument here with materialists would be whether or not the thoughts are merely mechanical necessities or something more. The consciousness is an effect as opposed to a cause for the materialist. Herein lies the current tension between materialist and non-materialists. So Clark makes this statement: “bodily changes can be neither true nor false. One set of physical motions cannot be truer than others. Therefore, if there is no mind, there can be no truth; and if there is no truth, materialism cannot be true.”

Truth is superior to the human mind: Truth cannot be subjective or individualistic. Truth is immutable and eternal, and we are changeable and finite, truth judges our reason and it doesn’t vary from person to person. Truth transcends human reason, we use reason to reach truth. “Therefore, truth must transcend human reason; truth must be superior to any individual humna mind as well as to the sum total of human minds. From this it follows that there must be a mind higher than the human mind in which truth resides.”

Truth is God: Here the whole quote is worth reproducing:

“There must be an ontological ground for truth. But the ground of truth cannot be anything perishable or contingent. Since truth is eternal and immutable, it must exist in an eternal and immutable Mind. And since only God possesses these attributes, God must be truth. Is all this any more than the assertion that there is an eternal, immutable Mind, a supreme Reason, a personal living God? The truths or propositions that may be known are the thought of God, the eternal thoughts of God.”

[Nervous Drake]

Re: Truth is immutable.

.

[Sapiens]

Re: Truth is immutable.

http://www.tentmaker.org/Quotes/truthquotes.htm

Truth Quotes

The Truth is heavy, therefore few care to carry it.

As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand. ---Josh Billings

Truth stood on one side and Ease on the other; it has often been so. --Theodore Parker

The truth that makes us free is always ticking away like a time-bomb in the basement of everybody’s church. --Robert Farrar Capon

Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.-- Winston Churchill

To see what is in front of one's nose requires a constant struggle. -- George Orwell

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.-- Galileo Galilei

We are often unprepared for Truth, which is why Truth is revealed to us progressively. --Chip Brogden

There are few nudities so objectionable as the naked truth. --Agnes Repplier

Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

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: the most deadly weapon ever discovered by humanity. Capable of destroying entire perceptual sets, cultures, and realities. Outlawed by all governments everywhere. Possession is normally punishable by death.-- John Gilmore

Do not fear to repeat what has already been said. Men need the truth dinned into their ears many times and from all sides. The first rumor makes them prick up their ears, the second registers, and the third enters.--Rene Theophile Hyacinthe LaÎnnec

The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable. --Jim Davis

The truth is "hate speech" only to those who have something to hide.--Michael Rivero

From the cowardice that shrinks from new truth; from the laziness that is content with half-truths; from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth – oh God of Truth deliver us!—Unknown

The search for truth implies a duty. One must not conceal any part of what one has recognized to be true. --Albert Einstein

God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take which you please; you can never have both. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. --Thoreau

Peace if possible, truth at all costs.-- Martin Luther

In this world, those who seek the truth will also find trouble. --Gary Amirault

One truth out of context can prove very dangerous. –Gregory Phillips

The truth is "hate speech" only to those who have something to hide. -- Michael Rivero

To some the truth is an insult, to others life from the dead. --Gary Amirault

Honesty has a beautiful and refreshing simplicity about it. No ulterior motives. No hidden meanings. An absence of hypocrisy, duplicity, political games, and verbal superficiality. As honesty and real integrity characterize our lives, there will be no need to manipulate others.--Chuck Swindoll

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. --George Orwell

Candor is a double-edged sword; it may heal or it may separate. Wilhelm Stekel

Honesty consists of the unwillingness to lie to others; maturity, which is equally hard to attain, consists of the unwillingness to lie to oneself.--Sydney J. Harris

The ability to lie is a liability.--Unknown

Friends, if we be honest with ourselves, we shall be honest with each other.--George MacDonald

When in doubt, tell the truth. --Mark Twain

Always tell the truth. That way you don't have to remember what you said.--Mark Twain

It matters enormously if I alienate anyone from the truth. --CS Lewis

"It's not a matter of what is true that counts but a matter of what is perceived to be true." --Henry Kissinger

Humility is nothing but truth, and pride is nothing but lying. -- Vincent de Paul

The folks who know the truth aren't talking…. The ones who don't have a clue, you can't shut them up! --Tom Waits

If a thousand old beliefs were ruined in our march to truth we must still march on. --Stopford Brooke

First they ignore it, then they laugh at it, then they say they knew it all along. --Alexander Humbold

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. --Arthur Schopenhauer

A genius may perhaps be a century ahead of his age and hence stands there as a paradox, but in the end, the race will assimilate what was once a paradox, so it is no longer paradoxical. --Soren Kierkegaard

Being human, we can only receive infinite truth in finite doses--Norman Grubb

The Greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. --Stephen Hawking

Some minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed up and permanently set. --Rev. Denny Brake

He that never changes his opinions, never corrects his mistakes, will never be wiser on the morrow than he is today. --Tryon Edwards

There are two ways to be fooled: One is to believe what isn't so; the other is to refuse to believe what is so. --Soren Kierkegaard

Man can certainly keep on lying... but he cannot make truth falsehood. He can certainly rebel... but he can accomplish nothing which abolishes the choice of God. --Karl Barth

When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken, or cease to be honest. --Unknown

The Greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. --Stephen Hawking

Whatever is only almost true is quite false, and among the most dangerous of errors, because being so near truth, it is the more likely to lead astray. --Henry Ward Beecher

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.--Niels Bohr

The greatest enemy of any one of our truths may be the rest of our truths. --William James

I don't think I could tell the whole truth about anything. That's a pretty heavy burden, because we all just view the world through this little piece of coke bottle. Jeff Melvoin

All generalizations, including this one, are false. --Mark Twain

The highest truth cannot be put into words. - Lao tzu.

The real searcher after truth will not receive the old because it is old, or reject the new because it is new. He will not believe men because they are dead, or contradict them because they are alive. With him an utterance is worth the truth, the reason it contains, without the slightest regard to the author. He may have been a king or serf -- a philosopher or servant, -- but the utterance neither gains nor loses in truth or reason. Its value is absolutely independent of the fame or station of the man who gave it to the world. -- Robert G. Ingersoll - (1833-1899) American political leader, orator

The truth was obscure, too plain and too pure. To live it you had to explode.—Bob Dylan

The greatest friend of truth is time, her greatest enemy is prejudice, and her constant companion humility.--Chuck Colson

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.-- Martin Luther King Jr.

To be ignorant of one’s ignorance is the malady of the ignorant. –Bronson Alcott

There is nothing more frightening than active ignorance.-- Goethe

In the matter of a difficult question it is more likely that the truth should have been discovered by the few than by the many.– Rene Descartes-Rules

When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic.-- Dresden James

It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error.— Adrian Rodgers

A man may be an heretic in the truth, and if he believe things only because his pastor says so, or the assembly so determines, without knowing other reason, though his belief be true, yet the very truth he holds becomes his heresy. F.W. Farrar

The way of discovery still lies open to us in divine things if we have the moral courage and the desire to go to the fountain head of truth, instead of filling our vessels out of this doctor’s compendium... or be held spellbound by the shadow of a few great names.-- Rev. J. B. Herd

Sometimes the majority only means that all the fools are on the same side. –Unknown

Our first decision about Truth is based upon Who Jesus is. With that question settled many Christians are content, but Truth is living. Truth will continue to reveal Himself to us and around us for as long as we will allow it.—Chip Brogden

...for the truth is always older than all the opinions men have held regarding it; and one should be ignoring the nature of truth if we imagined that the truth began at the time it came to be known.--Blaise Pascal

The thought that provokes thought is much more valuable than the thought that is only an echo of an accepted truth. - Thomas W. Hanford

To seek truth and to utter what one believes to be true can never be a crime. No one must be forced to accept a conviction. Conviction is free. —Michael Servetus

Once your soul has been enlarged by a truth, it can never return to its original size. --Blaise Pascal

A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions.--Oliver Wendell Holmes

Every truth must be accompanied by some corresponding act. –George MacDonald

The one who buries the Truth in the ground for safekeeping will lose it, while the one who does something with the Truth will receive more Truth. This is why some grow spiritually and some do not. --Chip Brogden

When you know the truth, the truth makes you a soldier. --Gandhi

A well-grounded assurance is always attended with three fair handmaids: love, humility and holy joy. --Thomas Brooks

We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.-- Blaise Pascal

It is better to ultimately succeed with the truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie. -- Adrian Rodgers

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.-- Martin Luther King

“There is nothing so powerful as truth, and often nothing so strange.” Daniel Webster
=
“As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand.” Josh Billings
=
“I was provided with additional input that was radically different from the truth. I assisted in furthering that version.” Oliver North
=
“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.” Edward R. Murrow
=
“Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth.” Publius Cornelius Tacitus
=
“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.” George Orwell (1903-1950), English novelist, essayist, and critic
=
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” Thomas Paine
=
“Truth is not determined by majority vote.” Doug Gwyn
=
“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 facts.” Abraham Lincoln
=
“Ah yes, truth. Funny how everyone is always asking for it but when they get it they don’t believe it because it’s not the truth they want to hear.” Helena Cassadine
=
“Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth.” Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi
=
“The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.” Herbert Sebastien Agar
=
“We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth… For my part, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst; and to provide for it.” Patrick Henry
=
“False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.” Plato, Dialogues, Phaedo, Greek author & philosopher in Athens (427 BC-347 BC)
=
“The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.” Adolf Hitler
=
“Half a truth is often a great lie.” Benjamin Franklin
=
“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly...it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.” Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister
=
“The process [of mass-media deception] has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt.... To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing
in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one
denies all this is indispensably necessary.” George Orwell in the book 1984
=
“Men hate those to whom they have to lie.” Victor Hugo (1802-1885)
=
“Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion—and who, therefore, in the next instant (when it is evident that the minority is the stronger) assume its opinion ... while Truth again reverts to a new minority.” Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Danish philosopher
=
“Beat me with the truth, don’t torture me with lies.” Author unknown
=
“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” Lenin (1870-1924)
=
“Live truth instead of professing it.” Elbert Hubbard
=
“The trust of the innocent is the liar’s most useful tool.” Stephen King
=
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
=
“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” Henry D. Thoreau
=
“There can be no public or private virtue unless the foundation of action is the practice of truth.” George Jacob Holyoake (1817-1906), English secularist
=
“Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” Albert Einstein
=
“Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth.” Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi
=
“Without seeking, truth cannot be known at all. It can neither be declared from pulpits, nor set down in articles, nor in any wise prepared and sold in packages ready for use. Truth must be ground for every man by itself out of it such, with such help as he can get, indeed, but not without stern labor of his own.” John Ruskin
=
“The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.” Herbert Sebastien Agar
=
“The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.” Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
=
“It’s not a matter of what is true that counts but a matter of what is perceived to be true.” Henry Kissinger
=
“Search for the truth is the noblest occupation of man; its publication is a duty.” Anne Louise Germaine de Stael (1766-1817), French author
=
“An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, stays bought.” Simon Cameron, Lincoln’s Secretary of War
=
“Here the ways of men part: if you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire.” Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
=
“Beware of being too rational. In the country of the insane, the integrated man doesn’t become king. He gets lynched.” Aldous Huxley, Island
=
“Oh what a wicked web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” Sir Walter Scott
=
“The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.” Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956), American humorous journalist
=
“A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity.” Baltasar Gracian (1601-1658), Spanish philosopher and writer


“The continued utterance of a lie does not make it true, but it does convince many that it is, particularly if you can squelch most efforts to expose the lie.” Shapley R. Hunter
=
“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.” Adolf Hitler
=
“In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.” George Orwell
=
“Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but be concerned about the treason that involves yourselves. Be true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good cause on Earth.” Eugene V. Debs, Speech, June 16, 1918
=
“We allow the most atrocious lies uttered by political and moral prostitutes to go unchallenged. These lies are endlessly recycled in the commercial media until they become ingrained in the public conscience as truth. Worse than burying our heads in the sand, we bury them up our collective ass. How do you like the view?” Charles Sullivan
=
“The history of the race, and each individual’s experience, are thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal.” Mark Twain
=
“The statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.” Mark Twain, “The Mysterious Stranger” (1910)
=
“Most of the greatest evils that man has inflicted upon man have come through people feeling quite certain about something which, in fact, was false.” Bertrand Russell
=
“Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self- deception.” Mark Twain, 1916
=
“When I tell the 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
=
“Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.” Spencer Johnson
=
“Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
=
“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.” Mohandas Gandhi
=
“The masses have never thirsted after truth. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.” Gustave Le Bon, “The Crowd”
=
“Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.” Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775
=
“There are some things the general public does not need to know, and shouldn’t. I believe democracy flourishes when the government can take legitimate steps to keep its secrets and when the press can decide whether to print what it knows” The late Katharine Graham, owner of the Washington Post
=
“The foulest damage to our political life comes not from the ‘secrets’ which they hide from us, but from the little bits of half-truth and disinformation which they do tell us. These are already pre-digested, and then are sicked up as little gobbits of authorised spew. The columns of defense correspondents in the establishment sheets serve as the spittoons.” E.P. Thompson, British historian
=
“When the natural weakness and imperfection of human understanding is considered, with the unavoidable influences of education, custom, books and company, upon our ways of thinking, I imagine a man must have a good deal of vanity who believes, and a good deal of boldness who affirms, that all the doctrines he holds, are true, and all he rejects are false.” Benjamin Franklin, 1740
=
“The governors of the world believe, and have always believed, that virtue can only be taught by teaching falsehood, and that any man who knew the truth would be wicked. I disbelieve this, absolutely and entirely. I believe that love of truth is the basis of all real virtue, and that virtues based upon lies can only do harm.” Bertrand Russell
=
“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.”
=
“One of the world’s greatest problems is the impossibility of any person searching for the truth on any subject when they believe they already have it.” Dave Wilbur
=
“Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.” Buddha, Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta
=
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
=
“He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, and all are slaves besides.” William Cowper
=
“We cannot afford to differ on the question of honesty if we expect our republic permanently to endure. Honesty is not so much a credit as an absolute prerequisite to efficient service to the public. Unless a man is honest, we have no right to keep him in public life; it matters not how brilliant his capacity.” Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th US President
=
“...most men have bound their eyes with one or another handkerchief, and attached themselves to some one of these communities of opinion. This conformity makes them not false in a few particulars, authors of a few lies, but false in all particulars. Their every truth is not quite true. Their two is not the real two, their four not the real four; so that every word they say chagrins us, and we know not where to begin to set them right.” Ralph Waldo Emerson - Self Reliance - 1841 - From “Essays”, First series
=
“There is tranquility in ignorance, but servitude is its partner.”
=
“A radical is one who speaks the truth.” Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr., congressman, father of famous aviator, June 15, 1957
=
“The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. One word of truth outweighs the world.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918- ), Russian writer, Soviet dissident, imprisoned for 8 years for criticizing Stalin in a personal letter, Nobel Prize for Literature, 1970
=
“Live truth instead of professing it.” Elbert Hubbard
=
“We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what they help distribute to the public; by which means a falsehood once received from a famed writer becomes traditional to posterity.” John Dryden (1631-1700), English poet
=
“Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad.” Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), author
=
“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.” Edward R. Murrow
=
“Many people today don’t want honest answers insofar as honest means unpleasant or disturbing, They want a soft answer that turneth away anxiety.” Louis Kronenberger (1904-1980)
=
“For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.” Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian statesman and political philosopher, source: Discourses, 1513-1517
=
“The modern susceptibility to conformity and obedience to authority indicates that the truth endorsed by authority is likely to be accepted as such by a majority of the people.” David Edwards, British columnist, Burning All Illusions, 1996
=
“One of the world’s greatest problems is the impossibility of any person searching for the truth on any subject when they believe they already have it.” Dave Wilbur
=
“The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his [or her] deception, the one who lies with sincerity.” Andre Gide
=
“It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.” Thomas Jefferson
=
“In order that all men might be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it.” Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), The Rambler, 1750-52
=
“Ambition drove many men to become false; to have one thought locked in the breast, another ready on the tongue.” Sallust (86 BC-34 BC), The War with Catiline
=
“The history of our race, and each individual’s experience, are sown thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal.” Mark Twain (1835-1910), Advice to Youth
=
“For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.” Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian statesman and political philosopher, Discourses, 1513-1517
=
“The greatness of every mighty organization embodying an idea in this world lies in the religious fanaticism and intolerance with which, fanatically convinced of its own right, it intolerantly imposes its will against all others.” Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), German chancellor, leader of the Nazi party
=
"All great truths begin as blasphemies." - George Bernard Shaw
=
The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons: - - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), Russian novelist
=
When people who are honestly mistaken learn the truth, they will either cease being mistaken, or cease being honest! – Anonymous
=
"By doubting we all come at truth." - Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) Roman Statesman, Philosopher and Orator
=
"It does not require many words to speak the truth."- Chief Joseph: (1840-1904) Chief of the Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) band of Nez Perce Indians


'In the democracy of the dead all men at last are equal. There is neither rank nor station nor prerogative in the republic of the grave" John James Ingalls
=
"Truth is not determined by majority vote" Doug Gwyn
=
"An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it" Mohandas Gandhi
=
The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.
Herbert Agar
=
Materialism coarsens and petrifies everything, making everything vulgar, and every truth false.
Henri Frederic Amiel
=
Not being known doesn't stop the truth from being true.
Richard Bach
=
What is truth? said jesting Pilate; and would not stay for an answer.
Francis Bacon
=
You never find yourself until you face the truth.
Pearl Bailey
=
When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.
Otto von Bismarck
=
Truth never penetrates an unwilling mind.
J. L. Borges
=
Truth, though it has many disadvantages, is at least changeless. You can always find it where you left it.
Phyllis Bottome
=
The truth is always exciting. Speak it, then. Life is dull without it.
Pearl S. Buck
=
Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object.
Albert Camus
=
Truth, of course, must of necessity be stranger than fiction; for we have made fiction to suit ourselves.
G. K. Chesterton
=
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
Jesus Christ
=
This is the truth: as from a fire aflame thousands of sparks come forth, even so from the Creator an infinity of beings have life and to him return again.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
=
Truth is so rare that it is delightful to tell it.
Emily Dickinson
=
Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
=
Truth hurts - not the searching after; the running from!
John Eyberg
=
God is, even though the whole world deny him. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.
Mohandas Gandhi
=
I worship God as Truth only. I have not yet found Him, but I am seeking after Him. I am prepared to sacrifice the things dearest to me in pursuit of this quest. Even if the sacrifice demanded my very life, I hope I may be prepared to give it.
Mohandas Gandhi
=
Wisdom is found only in truth.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
=
First and last, what is demanded of genius is love of truth.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
=
The truth isn't always beauty, but the hunger for it is.
Nadine Gordimer
=
Truth, like a torch, the more it's shook it shines.
William Hamilton
=
Truth is the torch that gleams through the fog without dispelling it.
Claud-Adrian Helvetius
=
The truth has a million faces, but there is only one truth.
Hermann Hesse
=
Live truth instead of professing it.
Elbert Hubbard
=
Proverbs are always platitudes until you have personally experienced the truth of them.
Aldous Huxley
=
Truth consists of having the same idea about something that God has.
Joseph Joubert
=
There is no such thing as a harmless truth.
Gregory Nunn
=
Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.
Elvis Presley
=
One fool will deny more truth in half an hour than a wise man can prove in seven years.
Coventry Patmore
=
People say they love truth, but in reality they want to believe that which they love is true.
Robert J. Ringer
=
Search for the truth is the noblest occupation of man; its publication is a duty.
Madame de Stael
=
If you shut the door to all errors truth will be shut out.
Rabindranath Tagore
=
The words of truth are always paradoxical.
Lao Tzu
=
The truth is at the beginning of anything and its end are alike touching.
Kenko Yoshida
=
The truth is on the march and nothing will stop it.
Emile Zola

[Jim Nickerson]

Re: Truth is immutable.

The truth is, Sapiens, your list or whoever's list it is, was too long to retain my attention for all of it. Two quotes by Kissinger and Oliver North did not seem to pertain to the truth in the sense that most of the others did; however Kissinger's words seem to dominate the US politically today in my opinion, and no telling how many years back. "It's not a matter of what is true that counts but a matter of what is perceived to be true." --Henry Kissinger

I also noted in as far as I read that only two of those speaking about "truth" appeared to be women, which brings to mind what one woman told me years ago, "Nick, all women lie." As it turned out that was probably the only truth I ever heard come out of her mouth. Perhaps what she spoke is a great truth, and accounts for the scarcity of women having made quotable quotes regarding the truth.

[Nervous Drake]

Re: Truth is immutable.

.

[Sapiens]

Re: Truth is immutable.

You can't help someone who is not willing to help themselves.

http://www.spanishpronto.com/spanish...ayings.html#aq

A Dios rogando y con el mazo dando.
Praying to God and hitting with the hammer. Covering all the bases. Doing everything necessary to ensure success. Or, as Baltasar Gracián quotes St. Ingnatius of Loyola, one should "Use human means as though divine ones didn't exist, and divine means as though human ones didn't exist."[^]

A juventud ociosa, vejez trabajosa.
To leisurely youth, laborious old age. If you are lazy now, you will have to work harder later.[^]

A quien madruga, Dios le ayuda.
Who rises early, God helps. God helps those who get started early.[^]

Acabándose el dinero, se termina la amistad.
The money running out, the friendship ends. Describes those who are your "friends" only as long as you have money.[^]

Camarón que se duerme, se lo lleva la corriente.
Shrimp that sleeps, the current carries it away. If you don't stay alert to and act on opportunities, you will miss them.[^]

Como el apóstol 13, come y desaparece.
Like the apostle 13, eats and leaves. Describes guests who come only for the food, or people who stay only for the part of the event that benefits them.[^]

Con virtud y bondad se adquiere autoridad.
With virtue and goodness authority is acquired. People will be more likely to do what you say if they perceive you as being virtuous and kind.[^]

De dinero y bondad, siempre la mitad.
Of money and goodness, always half. In matters of money and goodness, the truth is always half of what is claimed. There are similar sayings regarding claims of quality.[^]

De tal palo, tal astilla.
From such a stick, such a splinter. The way a child behaves is a reflection of the way his or her parents behave.[^]

Del dicho al hecho, hay mucho trecho.
From the word to the deed, there is a great distance. It is one thing to say something will be done, and quite a different thing to get it done.[^]

Despacio voy, porque de prisa estoy.
Slowly I go because I am in a hurry. Proceeding methodically often gets faster results than rushing.[^]

Donde hay gana, hay maña.
Where there is the desire there is the ability. If you really want to do something, you can find a way to do it.[^]

El que nace pa' tamal, del cielo le caen las hojas.
He who is born for tamal, from the sky the leaves fall on him. My best guess at this one: For what you are born to do, your path will fall into place in front of you.[^]

El diablo sabe más por viejo que por diablo.
The Devil knows more because he is old than because he is the Devil. Wisdom and knowledge increase with increasing age. (i.e., The Devil owes his knowledge more to his age than to any supernatural powers.)[^]

El mal escribano le echa la culpa a la pluma.
The poor writer places the blame on the pen. People naturally blame their problems on something or someone else, rather than accept any responsibility themselves.[^]

El que da primero, da dos veces.
He who strikes first strikes twice. Whoever is first has an advantage over all who come after.[^]

El que mucho habla, mucho yerra.
Who much speaks, much errs. The more you talk, the more you will make mistakes.[^]

El que por su gusto corre, nunca se cansa.
Who for his pleasure runs, never tires. When you do something for pleasure, it is not tiring.[^]

El que quiere baile, que pague músico.
Who wants dance, should pay musician. The one who wants something done should be the one who takes the responsibility for making it happen.[^]

El que quita la ocasión, evita el ladrón.
Who takes away the opportunity, avoids the robber. If you take precautions, you will avoid problems.[^]

En boca del mentiroso, lo cierto se hace dudoso.
In the mouth of a liar, what is certain becomes doubtful. Once someone has been caught lying, it is hard to believe anything else that person says.[^]

Gato escaldo del agua fría huye.
A scalded cat from cold water runs. People often draw the overly broad lessons from their experiences. (i.e., The cat should have learned only to avoid hot water.)[^]

Hazme las cuentas claras, y el chocolate espeso.
Make for me the accounts clear and the chocolate thick. Whatever else might be confusing, the books had better be straightforward. A similar saying is "Las cuentas claras hacen buenos amigos." (Clear accounting makes good friends.)[^]

Honra y dinero se ganan despacio y se pierden ligero.
Reputation and money are earned slowly and lost quickly. Reputation and money are hard earn and easy to lose.[^]

La mejor palabra es la que no se dice.
The best word is the one that is not said. Sometimes, refraining from speaking is better than anything you could say.[^]

La palabra es plata, el silencio oro.
The word is silver, silence gold. Silence is more valuable than words.[^]

Lo que bien se aprende, nunca se pierde.
What well is learned never is lost. If you learn something well, you will never forget it.[^]

Más vale poco y bueno que mucho y malo.
It is worth more little and good than much and bad. More is not always better. It is better to have less and happiness than more and misery.[^]

Mejor solo que mal acompañado.
Better alone than poorly accompanied. It is better to be alone than to be with the wrong person.[^]

Nadie es profeta en su propia tierra.
No one is a prophet in his own land. People place a higher value on exotic things and exotic people than on familiar ones. To quote Baltasar Gracián again: "Everything foreign is held in esteem, whether it came from afar, or because people see it only after it is well formed and has reached perfection. Some people were scorned in their own little corner but achieved worldly eminence. They are honored by their own people because they look at them from a distance and by foreigners because they came from afar."[^]

No es más rico el que más tiene, sino el que menos necesita.
He is not richer who the most has, but who the least needs. Someone who is satisfied with a small amount is richer than someone who is always craving more.[^]

No hay atajo sin trabajo.
There is no shortcut without work. It takes work to avoid doing work.[^]

No hay curva mala pasándola despacio.
There is no bad curve, passing it slowly. You can avoid mishaps by proceeding with caution.[^]

No tengas como vano el consejo del anciano.
Do not consider useless the advice of an old person. Do not ignore the advice of someone who speaks from experience.[^]

Perro que no camina, no encuentra hueso.
Dog who doesn't walk, doesn't find a bone. If you want something, you need to make efforts to get it.[^]

Poco a poco se anda lejos.
Little by little one goes far. Frequent, small steps can accomplish the same result as (or better results than) a one-time Herculean effort.[^]

Por el árbol se conoce el fruto.
By the tree the fruit is known. Children are very much like their parents.[^]

Querer es poder.
To want to is to be able to. If you really want to do something, you will be able to do it.[^]

Quien con el lobo se junta a aullar aprende.
Who with the wolf associates, to howl learns. A person can be judged by the company he or she keeps (i.e., by the people he or she hangs out with).[^]

Si quieres el perro, acepta las pulgas.
If you want the dog, accept the fleas. If you wanted something, don't complain about it once you get it.[^]

Una buena acción es la mejor oración.
A good deed is the best prayer. One's faith is best expressed by one's actions.[^]

[Sapiens]

Re: Truth is immutable.

"Unfettered greed only leads to total destruction." - The Merchant


"A genius is not a genius if he expects morons to recognize his genius." - The Merchant

Food for thought...