Quotes About Truth

People like Dick Gregory, Paul Robeson, Harry Belafonte and Nina Simone show me what the definition of an artist is - it isn't just to make art but to speak truth to what's happening, speak beauty into the world, speak love into the world and also... get involved.

We had to cope with the media writing things which were not true, which were insulting. At around 13 I decided I was just not going to pay attention.

There's a lot of other movies I like, but I don't even pay attention to directors to tell you the truth.

Reading newspapers in the state of Maine is like paying somebody to tell you lies.

When America pays lip service but little more to horrors like the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, instead proclaiming convenient but arbitrary loopholes in our moral obligations, we just give the world's worst bullies more ammunition and power.

We grew up during the 'peace and love' of the 1960s, only to discover that there are wars everywhere, and love and romance is a con.

I never was a hippie! I went to India because so many friends like Mia Farrow and the Beatles were going there to discover truth. And so I went and trekked through India by myself, but instead of discovering truth, I wanted to join the Peace Corps.

I'm not an agent from any government, even if some of you may not believe it. I'm not. I'm a peacemaker.

Everything isn't always going to be peaches and cream. If it is, then it's fake.

I can remember somebody once saying to me that they thought my life must be less real than these other people that they were writing about, which I found a very peculiar thing 'cos all our lives are equally real, and it's just a matter of depicting them and talking about them.

See, every thing in show business is a lie. It ain't all it's cracked up to be. You are in situations where you are forced to think that you are better than everybody else because of the pedestal the fans place you on. It's a lie. This is just a job, a high-profile job. You have to keep that in perspective and not get caught up in the hype.

If you peek behind the curtain at any type of company, you'll see that things are far less organized than you'd expect.

As a writer, I always peel back the layers, go to the most sensitive places uncomfortably close to the heart.

Few things detract more from your credibility and the respect of your colleagues and peers than being called on the carpet to deflect accusations and defend an untruth.

It's all a sham: I have seen, and I know firsthand, indeed from my own pen, how the organized Right has sabotaged not only journalism but also democracy and truth.

One thing I detest most about the financial press is the lack of accountability. All sorts of nonsense is said without penalty.

I grew up thinking that it was immoral to idealize the past because, in the past, there was slavery and no penicillin.

There should be at least one leak like the Pentagon Papers every year.

People say I have a distorted lens. I think I see things as they really are.

If I know what's true in my heart and my soul, then what people say can't shape that.

There's what people say, and there's what people mean, and I like to explore the difference between the two.

I don't argue when people say that my message is simple, but I believe Jesus' message was simple.

People say they make movies to show what 'really happens.' But they only show what they choose to show.

Well, you know, when people say stuff about you, it's always really flattering. But does it mean anything to me? It's not really real to me; there's no reality to it.