Quotes About Truth

Clio, the muse of history, is as thoroughly infected with lies as a street whore with syphilis.

thoughts die the moment they are embodied by words

Exigir la inmortalidad del individuo es querer perpetuar un error hasta el infinito

Die Wahrheit ist allezeit nur ein kurzes Siegesfest beschieden zwischen die beiden langen Zeiträumen, wo sie als paradox und als trivial gering geschätzt wird

Every generation of humans believed it had all the answers it needed, except for a few mysteries they assumed would be solved at any moment. And they all believed their ancestors were simplistic and deluded. What are the odds that you are the first generation of humans who will understand reality?

Reality is overrated and impossible to understand with any degree of certainty. What you do know for sure is that some ways of looking at the world work better than others. Pick the way that works, even if you don't know why.

Because everything you perceive is a metaphor for something your brain is not equipped to fully understand. God is as real as the clothes you are wearing and the chair you are sitting in. They are all metaphors for something you will never understand.

Skeptics," he said, "suffer from the skeptics' disease— the problem of being right too often.

Being absolutely right and being spectacularly wrong feel exactly the same.

When politicians tell lies, they know the press will call them out. They also know it doesn't matter. Politicians understand that reason will never have much of a role in voting decisions. A lie that makes a voter feel good is more effective than a hundred rational arguments. That's even true when the voter knows the lie is a lie.

mocking people for lying probably helps to reduce future lies and make the world a better place, whereas mocking people for things they can't change is just being a jerk.

money distorts truth like a hippo in a thong.

I don't read the news to find truth, as that would be a foolish waste of time.

For humans, honesty is a matter of degree. Engineers are always honest in matters of technology and human relationships. That's why it's a good idea to keep engineers away from customers, romantic interests, and other people who can't handle the truth.

simplicity is not proof of truth. But since we can never understand true reality, if two models both explain the same facts, it is more rational to use the simpler one. It is a matter of convenience.

A lie that makes a voter feel good is more effective than a hundred rational arguments.

Inaccurate worldviews are the only kind there is.

Every generation before us believed, like Snickers, that it had things figured out. We now know that every generation before us was wrong about a lot of it. Is it likely that you were born at the tipping point of history, in which humans know enough about reality to say we understand it? This is another case where humility is your friend.

Confirmation bias looks exactly like knowledge gained from doing your own research.

The human mind is a delusion generator, not a window to truth. Everyone, including skeptics, will generate delusions that match their views. That is how a normal and healthy brain works. Skeptics are not exempt from self-delusion.

imagine where our current delusions about reality might lead us.

inaccurate worldviews are the only kind there is. Does

El sistema reconoce que existen al menos seis maneras frecuentes de distinguir entre verdad y fantasía

La experiencia personal. (La percepción humana no es digna de confianza.) 2. La experiencia de sus conocidos. (Menos fiable, si cabe.) 3. Los expertos. (Trabajan por dinero, no para descubrir la verdad.) 4. Los estudios científicos. (Correlación ? causación.) 5.