He who loves the truth must at least once in his life doubt everything.
The awareness of the relative validity of our knowledge is the most powerful lever of progress. The conception of those who believe in absolute truth is but a monotonous scheme of honest men and rational institutions. They oppose, for this reason, all human and historical forms that do not fit into their norm and that reality nevertheless produces without regard to their minds...
Absolute truth is the root cause of intolerance. From the consciousness of the reduced validity of "eternal truths" results, conversely, tolerance. The understanding of pure reason, that is, the knowledge of the general dependence of the spirit, is the way of truth to practical reason.
To get to the truth, you have to be willing to seek it.
The truth that needs to be demonstrated is only half-truth.
From the clash of ideas comes the spark of truth.
A discovery, a theoretical truth, must sooner or later make its way into human consciousness, however much those whose interests are threatened by the new theory may object. This spreading and penetration is done by virtue of the very intrinsic power that a truth has.
Don't lie to yourself. He who lies to himself and bends his ear to his own lies ends up not distinguishing the truth either in himself or around him; to no longer have respect for himself or for the other world.
Only scoundrels find it easy to lie in all circumstances.
Once a fact is amply confirmed, you will have to accept it.
Whatever you do is too little when it comes to spreading a truth.
If mankind ever came to operate only with eternal truths, as the results of thought of sovereign validity and of the character of absolute truths, it would mean that it had reached the point where the infinity of the intellectual world would be exhausted as a reality and as a possibility.
It is better to defeat an opinion based on truth, than to be defeated by truth based on an opinion.
The liar gains nothing but not being believed when he tells the truth.
Truth does not do as much good in the world as its appearances do.
It is said that only a practiced liar can deceive others. But it often happens that the practiced and cynical liar lies only to himself; the man whose lies are most readily accepted is he who, all his life, has enjoyed the reputation of an honest man.
Never was any truth born into the world with decorations, nor in the splendor of a throne, in the sound of cymbals and trumpets, but always in darkness, among tears and sighs.
There is a big difference between lying to protect yourself and lying to protect someone else.
Error, like certainty, is part of our baggage of experience; it is therefore inevitably ours, to the same extent that the failures and the lessons that emerge and from which our own edification are gradually constituted are also ours...
Life involves a continuous effort to learn, and this would be unimaginable outside of a successive swing between trial and error, through which we manage to adapt to reality.
All truths become brighter through each other.
A liar is like a counterfeiter of money; his first lies exceed the truth, but the moment the falsity of his words is revealed, they cease to have any value.
Truths are errors that have conquered.
The most abhorrent lies are the ones that come closest to the truth.
The love of truth is not the same as the need for certainty, and it is quite imprudent to confuse them.
Yes, illusion, while it lasts, has the invincible power of truth, and only strong and deep spirits rise and strengthen themselves by the recognition of an error.
The truth is one for everyone, but everyone sees it differently, and because it remains one, it is present in multiple views.
It is true that the climb to the truth is difficult and slippery, but we would still not want to take it up carried by donkeys.
He who makes a law of checking his deeds by thought, and thought by deeds, cannot err, or if he errs, he will soon find the right way.
Error is to truth what sleep is to awakening: I have observed that you wake from error and return refreshed to truth.