Truth Quotes
Most of what you believe is wrong. Not slightly off—fundamentally mistaken. You think you're objective, but you're rationalizing conclusions you reached emotionally. You think you remember events accurately, but memory is reconstructive fiction. You think you know why you do things, but your conscious explanations are post-hoc narratives covering up unconscious drives. The gap between reality and your model of reality is vast, and most problems come from confusing the map with the territory. Truth is ruthlessly indifferent to what you want to believe. It doesn't care about your ego, your identity, your political tribe, or your self-image. This makes truth uncomfortable—it requires admitting you were wrong, killing your darlings, and updating beliefs you've built your identity around.
"I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing."
"Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean."
"Seeing the truth requires you to detach from your own emotions and observe the world as it is."
"A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not."
"“I’ve met so many people who say, ‘Oh, I’m not interested in money.’ Yet they’ll work at a job for eight hours a day. That’s a denial of truth. If they weren’t interested in money, then why are they working?"
Website: Wikiquote - Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money-That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!)
"A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Ch. 5, "Cognitive ease" p. 62."
"I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure, unless built upon truth and justice, therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects. p. 55"
"There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality."
"With respect to a true culture and manhood, we are essentially provincial still, not metropolitan, — mere Jonathans. We are provincial, because we do not find at home our standards, — because we do not worship truth, but the reflection of truth, — because we are warped and narrowed by an exclusive devotion to trade and commerce and manufactures and agriculture and the like, which are but means, and not the end. p. 493"
"Such was the vast power which the god settled in the lost island of Atlantis; and this he afterwards directed against our land for the following reasons, as tradition tells: For many generations, as long as the divine nature lasted in them, they were obedient to the laws, and well-affectioned towards the god, whose seed they were; for they possessed true and in every way great spirits, uniting gentleness with wisdom in the various chances of life, and in their intercourse with one another."
"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."
"Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power."
"We must face the truth of our own mortality to live a life of urgency and purpose."
"In nature there is no effect without a cause; understand the cause and you will have no need of the experiment."
"If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes."
"The frontiers are not east or west, north or south, but wherever a man fronts a fact, though that fact be his neighbor, there is an unsettled wilderness between him and Canada, between him and the setting sun, or, farther still, between him and it."
Website: Wikiquote - Henry David Thoreau (A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849))
"You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody."
"Honesty is a luxury, but the truth is a necessity for anyone seeking power or mastery."
"Nature is the source of all true knowledge. She has her own logic, her own laws, she has no effect without cause nor invention without necessity."
"It takes a long time to become young."
"The Vedas contain a sensible account of God." "The veneration in which the Vedas are held is itself a remarkable feat. Their code embraced the whole moral life of the Hindus and in such a case there is no other truth than sincerity. Truth is such by reference to the heart of man within, not to any standard without. A Tribute to Hinduism (2008)"
"Beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may. 212"
"I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity, is daring to dare."
"The truth is that we are all deeply flawed and governed by emotions we barely understand."
"Truth was at last the only daughter of time."
"In art, intentions are not sufficient and, as we say in Spanish, love must be proved by facts and not by reasons."
"To speak impartially, the best men that I know are not serene, a world in themselves. For the most part, they dwell in forms, and flatter and study effect only more finely than the rest. We select granite for the underpinning of our houses and barns; we build fences of stone; but we do not ourselves rest on an underpinning of granitic truth, the lowest primitive rock. Our sills are rotten. p. 490"
Why these quotes matter
Truth is the foundation of effective action. False beliefs lead to failed plans. If you misunderstand human nature, your leadership will fail. If you misread market signals, your business will fail. If you lie to yourself about your motivations, your life will feel inauthentic. The quality of your thinking determines the quality of your outcomes, and the quality of your thinking depends on how accurately it maps to reality. This is why successful people actively seek disconfirming evidence and update their beliefs faster than average—they value truth over being right. Being wrong costs less when you discover it quickly.
How to apply them daily
Build a truth-seeking practice: before forming opinions, actively search for evidence against your initial intuition. Hold beliefs probabilistically rather than absolutely—'I'm 70% confident this is true' rather than 'this is definitely true.' Create accountability by making falsifiable predictions and tracking your accuracy. Most importantly, separate your identity from your beliefs—when you define yourself by your opinions, updating them feels like death. Instead, define yourself by your commitment to truth-seeking, making belief updates evidence of growth rather than failure. Finally, surround yourself with people who will challenge you honestly instead of confirming your biases.
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"Truth doesn't care about your feelings, and that's precisely why it's so valuable. Your feelings adapt to comfortable lies. Reality doesn't. Align with truth and reality becomes your ally. Cling to delusions and reality becomes your opponent. Choose wisely."