I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little the more as I grow older.
For oh, 'twas nuts to the Father of Lies,
(As this wily fiend is named in the Bible)
To find it settled by Laws so wise
That the greater the truth, the worse the libel.
I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
As children gathering pebbles on the shore.
In the mountains of truth, you never climb in vain.
We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.
Naked Truth needs no shift.
William Penn—Title of a Broadside. (1674)
Ego verum amo, verum volo mihi dici; mendacem odi.
I love truth and wish to have it always
spoken to me: I hate a liar.
Plautus—Mostelkaria. I. 3. 26.
When truth or virtue an affront endures,
Th' affront is mine, my friend, and should be yours.
'Tis not enough your counsel still be true;
Blunt truths more mischief than nice falsehoods do.
Farewell then, verse, and love, and ev'ry toy,
The rhymes and rattles of the man or boy;
What right, what true, what fit we justly call,
Let this be all my care—for this is all.
| author = Pope
| work = First Book of Horace. Ep. I. L. 17.
.
Dura omnia quaerimus, aliqiiando ad verum,
ubi minime expectavimus, pervenimus.
While we are examining into everything
we sometimes find truth where we least expected it.
Let us seek the solution of these doubts at
the bottom of the inexhaustible well, where
Heraclitus says that truth is hidden.
Rabelais—Pantagruel'. Ch. XVIII.
| seealso = (See also {{sc|Democritus, Seneca, Wolcot)
Die Treue warnt vor drohenden Verbrechen,
Die Rachgier spricht von den begangenen.
Truth warns of threatening climes,
Malice speaks of those which were committed.
Schiller—Don Carlos. III. 4. 124.
Involuta Veritas in alto Iatet.
Truth lies wrapped up and hidden in the
depths.
Seneca—De Beneficiis. VII. 1.
| seealso = (See also Rabelais)
| topic = Truth
| page = 821
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>Veritatem dies aperit.
Time discovers truth.
Seneca—De Ira. II. 22.*
Veritatis simplex oratio est.
The language of truth is simple.
Seneca—Epistolce Ad Luailium. XLLX.
Veritas odit moras.
Truth hates delays.
Seneca—CEdipus. 850.
That truth should be silent I had almost forgot.
Antony and Cleopatra. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 110.
To thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 78.
| seealso = (See also Dillon)
| topic = Truth
| page = 821
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>If circumstances lead me, I will find
Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed
Within the centre.
Hamlet. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 157.
Mark now, how a plain tale shall put you down.
Henry IV. Pt. I. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 281.
Tell truth and shame the devil.
If thou have power to raise him, bring him hither,
And I'll be sworn I have power to shame him hence.
Henry IV. Pt. I. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 59.
| seealso = (See also Swift)
| topic = Truth
| page = 821
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>What, can the devil speak true?
Macbeth. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 107.
But 'tis strange:
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray's
In deepest consequence.
Macbeth. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 122.
Truth is truth
To the end of reckoning.
But wonder on, till truth make all things plain.
Midsummer Night's Dream. Act V. Sc. 1.
L. 129.
They breathe truth that breathe their words in pain.
