Quotes About Truth

it was beneficial to have a reputation for honesty, if only so that one could lie at crucial moments.

So, when people try to give you some book with a shiny round award on the cover, be kind and gracious, but tell them that you don't read "fantasy," because you prefer stories that are real. Then come back here and continue your research on the cult of evil Librarians who secretly rule the world.

To be honest, 'arrogant' doesn't feel like quite the right word. It's not specific enough." "And what would be the right word, then?" "I don't know. 'Errorgant,' perhaps." Jasnah raised a skeptical eyebrow. "It means to be twice as certain as someone who is merely arrogant," Shallan said, "while possessing only one-tenth the requisite facts.

Lógicamente inconsistente. Obviamente incierto.

That's the credit she had given to religion: lies that made people feel better.

Every scholar knew that one of the greatest dangers in research was the desire to find a specific answer.

His phone chirped the sound of some bird. "That's actually the call of an eagle," Tobias said. "Most people are surprised to hear how they really sound, as the American media uses the call of the red tailed hawk when showing an eagle. They don't think the eagle sounds regal enough. And so we lie to ourselves about the very identity of our national icon...

Pattern hummed. "Truth is individual." "What? No it's not. Truth is . . . it's Truth. Reality." "Your truth is what you see," Pattern said, sounding confused. "What else could it be? That is the truth that you spoke to me, the truth that brings power.

Always the victor writes the history of the vanquished. He who beats distorts the faces of the beaten. The weaker depart from this world and the lies remain.

Do not treat me in this fashion. Don't leave me out. Have I not Always spoken the truth in my books? And now You treat me like a liar! I order you: Burn me!

Vulnerability is not weakness. And that myth is profoundly dangerous.

Steve said, "I don't know. I really don't. All I know is that my life is better when I assume that people are doing their best. It keeps me out of judgment and lets me focus on what is, and not what should or could be." His answer felt like truth to me. Not an easy truth, but truth.

People who wade into discomfort and vulnerability and tell the truth about their stories are the real badasses.

Science is not the truth. Science is finding the truth. When science changes its opinion, it didn't lie to you. It learned more.

It's helpful to keep in mind Alberto Brandolini's Bullshit Asymmetry Principle or what's sometimes known as Brandolini's law: "The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it.

When we reject the truth of someone's story—the ultimate failure of story stewardship—it's often because we've stealthily centered ourselves in their story, and the narrative takeover is about protecting our ego, behavior, or privilege. The less diverse our lived experiences, the more likely we are to find ourselves struggling with narrative takeover or narrative tap-out.

Lying is a defiance of the truth. Bullshitting is a wholesale dismissal of the truth.

It's crazy how much energy we spend trying to avoid these hard topics when they're really the only ones that can set us free.

Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they're never weakness.

We love seeing raw truth and openness in other people, but we're afraid to let them see it in us. We're afraid that our truth isn't enough—that what we have to offer isn't enough without the bells and whistles, without editing, and impressing.

I love this from theologians Richard Rohr " My scientist friends have come up with things like ' principles of uncertainty' and dark holes. They're willing to live inside imagined hypothesis and theories. But many religious folks insist on answers that are always true. We love closure, resolution and clarity, while thinking we are people of 'faith'! How strange that the very word 'faith' has come to mean its exact opposite

In the absence of data, we will always make up stories.

Confabulation has a really great and subtle definition: a Confabulation is a lie told honestly. To confabulate is to replace missing information with something false that we believe to be true.

Feeding people half-truths or bullshit to make them feel better (which is almost always about making ourselves feel more comfortable) is unkind. Not getting clear with a colleague about your expectations because it feels too hard, yet holding them accountable or blaming them for not delivering is unkind. Talking about people rather than to them is unkind.