Quotes About Truth

What had Old Joe Hunt answered when I knowingly claimed that history was the lies of the victors? "As long as you remember that it is also the self-delusions of the defeated." Do we remember that enough when it comes to our private lives?

Razumem da u tom svesnom skretanju pogleda može biti i ne?eg pozitivnog: lakše je gurati dalje ako ne prime?ujete neprijatne stvari. Ali, ako ne prime?ujete neprijatne stvari, na kraju ?ete poverovati da do njih nikad i ne dolazi. Uvek vas iznenade.

La verdad no es amable. Lo descubrirás muy pronto cuando la vida te vapulee.

No intento tejer una historia; estoy tratando de contar la verdad.

No existe la justicia, ni aquí ni en ninguna parte.

Istorija n?ra nugal?toj? melai <...>, tai veikiau išgyvenusi?j? prisiminimai, ir dauguma j? n?ra nei nugal?tojai, nei pralaim?jusieji.

Istorija yra žinomyb?, atsirandanti atminties netobulum? ir dokument? netikslum? susikirtimo taške.

History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.' 

How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts? And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around to challenge our account, to remind us that our life is not our life, merely the story we have told about our life. Told to others, but – mainly – to ourselves. Dear

We all know objective truth is not obtainable, that when some event occurs we shall have a multiplicity of subjective truths which we assess and then fabulate into history, into some God-eyed version of what 'really' happened.

History is the lies of the victors," I replied, a little too quickly. "Yes, I was rather afraid you'd say that. Well, as long as you remember that it is also the self-delusions of the defeated.

The truth was that nobody ever arrived without invitation, and all that tidying and wiping was performed out of what struck me as deep social atavism

Throw off your grief,' such doubters imply, 'and we can all go back to pretending that death doesn't exist, or at least is comfortably far away.

I have seen too many examples of lovers who, far from living in truth, dwelt in some fantasy land where self-delusion and self-aggrandizement reigned, with reality nowhere to be found.

When asked What The Novel Does, I tend to answer, 'It tells beautiful, shapely lies which enclose hard, exact truths.

On the other hand, the emotional record was not like a history book; its truths were constantly changing, and true even when incompatible.

you begin lying to her. Why? Something to do with the need to create some internal space which you could keep intact—and where you could yourself remain intact. And this is how it is for you now. Love and truth—where have they gone? You ask yourself: Is staying with her an act of courage on your part, or an act of cowardice? Perhaps both? Or is it just an inevitability?

From The Noise of Time: What could be put up against the noise of time? Only that music which is inside ourselves--the music of our being--which is transformed by some into real music. Which, over the decades, if it is strong and true and pure enough to drown out the noise of time, is transformed into the whisper of history.

Most of us have only one story to tell. I don't mean that only one thing happens to us in our lives: there are countless events, which we turn into countless stories. But there's only one that matters, only one finally worth telling. This is mine.

Most of us have only one story to tell. I don't mean that only one thing happens to us in our lives: there are countless events, which we turn into countless stories. But there's only one that matters, only one finally worth telling. This is mine.

But here's the first problem. If this is your only story, then it's the one you have most often told and retold, even if—as is the case here—mainly to yourself. The question then is: Do all these retellings bring you closer to the truth of what happened, or move you further away? I'm not sure.

Dovrebbe apparirci ovvio come il tempo per noi non agisca affatto da fissativo, ma piuttosto da solvente. Solo che credere questo non conviene, non serve; non aiuta a tirare avanti; perciò fingiamo di non saperlo.

Which are truer, the happy memories, or the unhappy ones? He decided, eventually, that the question was unanswerable.

This last isn't something I actually saw, but what you end up remembering isn't always the same as what you have witnessed.