Quotes About Truth

People create their own questions because they are afraid to look straight. All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and when you see it, don't sit looking at it - walk.

She knew that even pain can be confessed, but to confess happiness is to stand naked, delivered to the witness...

Within the extent of your knowledge, you are right.

What is morality, she asked. Judgement to distinguish right and wrong, vision to see the truth, and courage to act upon it, dedication to that which is good, integrity to stand by the good at any price.

We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.

Only a man of integrity can possess the virtue of honesty, since only the faking of one's consciousness can permit the faking of existence.

There can be no compromise on moral principles.

I understood that centuries of chains and lashes will not kill the spirit of man nor the sense of truth within him.

There are no contradictions. If you find one, check your premises.

The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see

She knew that even pain can be confessed, but to confess happiness is to stand naked, delivered to the witness, yet they could let each other see it without the need of protection.

I'll give you a hint. Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.

Many words have been granted me, and some are wise, and some are false, but only three are holy: I will it!

We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality

A Conformist is a man who declares, It's true because others believe it - but an Individualist is NOT a man who declares, It's true because I believe it. An Individual declares, I believe it because I see in reason that it is true.

Let us destroy, but don't let us pretend that we are commiting an act of virtue.

It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty to the earth. It is my ears which hear, and the hearing of my ears gives its song to the world. It is my mind which thinks, and the judgement of my mind is the only searchlight that can find the truth. It is my will which chooses, and the choice of my will is the only edict I must respect.

The causes of illusions are not pretty to discover. They're either vicious or tragic.

That an error made on your own is safer than ten truths accepted on faith, because the first leaves you the means to correct it but the second destroys your capacity to distinguish truth from error.

Those who tell you that man is unable to perceive a reality undistorted by his senses, mean that they are unwilling to perceive a reality undistorted by their feelings. Things as they are are things as perceived by your mind; divorce them from reason and they become things as perceived by your wishes.

I understand that centuries of chains and lashes will not kill the spirit of man nor the sense of truth within him. ~Equality 7-2521 (as Prometheus), pg 98

Integrity is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake your consciousness, just as honesty is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake existence.

Rationality is the recognition of the fact that nothing can alter the truth and nothing can take precedence over that act of perceiving it.

To irrational principles, one cannot be loyal. Ideas that are not derived from reality cannot be consistently practiced in reality. --as quoted by Leonard Peikoff in Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand