Quotes & Sayings About Truth Mark Twain

If a cat sits on a hot stove, that cat won't sit on a hot stove again. That cat won't sit on a cold stove either. That cat just don't like stoves. — Mark Twain

If you play Mark Twain and he's not funny, you are definitely not playing Mark Twain. That was the biggest challenge, in some ways. Writing and performing jokes that can come out of that brilliant delivery system he constructed: the friendly, avuncular truth-teller. — Val Kilmer

These descriptions do really state the truth- as nearly as the limitations of language will allow. But language is a treacherous thing, a most unsure vehicle, and it can seldom arrange descriptive words in such a way that they will not inflate the facts-by help of the readers imagination, which is always ready to take a hand, and work for nothing, and do the bulk of it at that. — Mark Twain

I don't mind what the opposition say of me so long as they don't tell the truth about me. But when they descend to telling the truth about me I consider that this is taking an unfair advantage. — Mark Twain

Manners!" he said. "Why, it is merely the truth, and truth is good manners; manners are a fiction. The castle is done. Do you like it? — Mark Twain

The truth is a precious commodity. That's why I use it so sparingly. — Mark Twain

An Autobiography is the truest of all books,for while it inevitably consists mainly of extinctions of the truth, shirkings of the truth, partial revealments of the truth, with hardly an instance of plain straight truth, the remorseless truth is there, between the lines, where the author-cat is raking dust upon it which hides from the disinterested spectator neither it nor its smell (though I didn't use that figure)
the result being that the reader knows the author in spite of his wily diligences. — Mark Twain

History is strewn thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill, but a lie, well told, is immortal. — Mark Twain

Tell the truth or trump-but get the trick. — Mark Twain

We are always hearing of people who are around seeking after the Truth. I have never seen a (permanent) specimen. I think he has never lived. But I have seen several entirely sincere people who thought they were (permanent) Seekers after the Truth. They sought diligently, persistently, carefully, cautiously, profoundly, with perfect honesty and nicely adjusted judgment- until they believed that without doubt or question they had found the Truth. That was the end of the search. The man spent the rest of his hunting up shingles wherewith to protect his Truth from the weather. — Mark Twain

To avoid being drawn into error, keep a firm grip on the truth. — Mark Twain

Familiarity breeds contempt. How accurate that is. The reason we hold truth in such respect is because we have so little opportunity to get familiar with it. — Mark Twain

Now, then, that is the tale. Some of it is true. — Mark Twain

When it comes to bending the truth to assist a story's plot versus staying completely true to the facts, we can assure you any dramatist will always select the former. Mark Twain's old saying "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story" still reigns in Hollywood. — James Morcan

Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen. — Mark Twain

The history of our race, and each individual's experience, are sown thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal. — Mark Twain

The man who speaks an injurious truth lest his soul be not saved if he do otherwise, should reflect that that sort of a soul is not strictly worth saving. The — Mark Twain

Truth is stranger than fiction-to some people, but I am measurably familiar with it. — Mark Twain

Often, the surest way to convey misinformation is to tell the strict truth. — Mark Twain

At the time that the telegraph brought the news of his death, I was on the Pacific coast. I was a fresh new journalist, and needed a nom de guerre; so I confiscated the ancient mariner's discarded one, and have done my best to make it remain what it was in his hands - a sign and symbol and warrant that whatever is found in its company may be gambled on as being the petrified truth; how I have succeeded, it would not be modest in me to say. — Mark Twain

I don't know anything that mars a good literature so completely as too much truth. Facts contain a great deal of poetry, but you can't use too many of them without damaging your literature. — Mark Twain

Now let us see what the philosophers say. Note that venerable proverb: Children and fools _always_ speak the truth. The deduction is plain
adults and wise persons _never_ speak it. — Mark Twain

Children and fools always speak the truth. — Mark Twain

A half-truth is the most cowardly of lies. — Mark Twain

I know all about audiences, they believe everything you say, except when you are telling the truth. — Mark Twain

When in doubt tell the truth. It will confound your enemies and astound your friends. — Mark Twain

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. — Mark Twain

I fancy you may tell the truth about yourself. But all of it? The black truth, which we all know ourselves in our hearts, or only the whity-brown truth of the pericardium, or the nice, whitened truth of the shirtfront? Even you [Mark Twain] won't tell the black heart's-truth. The man who could do it would be famed to the last day the sun shown upon. — William Dean Howells

Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing wrong with this, except that it ain't so. — Mark Twain

Homely truth is unpalatable. — Mark Twain

None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth. — Mark Twain

An injurious truth has no merit over an injurious lie. Neither should ever be uttered. The man who speaks an injurious truth, lest his soul be not saved if he do otherwise, should reflect that that sort of a soul is not strictly worth saving. — Mark Twain

Look at the mother of Washington! She raised a boy that could not tell a lie
could not tell a lie! But he never had any chance. It might have been different if he had belonged to the Washington Newspaper Correspondents' Club — Mark Twain

The truth is a fragile thing, but a lie, well told, can live forever. " - Mark Twain — Rebecca Nugent

There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. — Mark Twain

Truth is stranger than fiction... — Mark Twain

I like the truth sometimes, but I don't care enough for it to hanker after it. — Mark Twain

Mark Twain.
The truth should never be permitted to stand in the way of a good story. — Mark Twain

When the doctrine of allegiance to party can utterly up-end a man's moral constitution and make a temporary fool of him besides, what excuse are you going to offer for preaching it, teaching it, extending it, perpetuating it? Shall you say, the best good of the country demands allegiance to party? Shall you also say it demands that a man kick his truth and his conscience into the gutter, and become a mouthing lunatic, besides? — Mark Twain

A historian who would convey the truth must lie. Often he must enlarge the truth by diameters, otherwise his reader would not be able to see it. — Mark Twain

That's just the way: a person does a low-down thing, and then he don't want to take no consequences of it. Thinks as long as he can hide it, it ain't no disgrace. — Mark Twain

A lie can make it half way around the world before the truth has time to put its boots on. — Mark Twain

If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything. — Mark Twain

Truth is more of a stranger than fiction. — Mark Twain

All of us contain Music & Truth, but most of us can't get it out. — Mark Twain

All democrats are insane, but not one of them knows it — Mark Twain

The truth hurts, but silence kills. — Mark Twain

The reason why truth is so much stranger than fiction is that there is no requirement for it to be consistent. — Mark Twain

I have too much respect for the truth to drag it out on every trifling occasion. — Mark Twain

A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar. — Mark Twain

It is not worth while to strain one's self to tell the truth to people who habitually discount everything you tell them, whether it is true or isn't. — Mark Twain

In writing, I shall always confine myself strictly to the truth, except when it is attended with inconvenience. — Mark Twain

A wise man does not waste so good a commodity as lying for naught. — Mark Twain

Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it. — Mark Twain

I have not professionally dealt in truth. Many when they come to die have spent all the truth that was in them, and enter the next world as paupers. I have saved up enough to make an astonishment there. — Mark Twain

Those who say truth is stranger than fiction have wasted their time on poorly written fiction. — Mark Twain

Truth is such a precious article - let us all economize in its use. — Mark Twain

There have been innumerable Temporary Seekers after the Truth-have you ever heard of a permanent one? — Mark Twain

When in doubt, tell the truth. That maxim I did invent, but never expected it to be applied to me. I did say, "When you are in doubt," but when I am in doubt myself I use more sagacity. — Mark Twain

I could see he meant no offense, but in my thoughts I set it down as not very good manners.
"Manners!" he said. "Why, it is merely the truth, and truth is good manners; manners are a fiction. — Mark Twain

The Bible has noble poetry in it ... and some good morals and a wealth of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies. — Mark Twain

OU DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME WITHOUT YOU HAVE READ A BOOK BY THE name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly - Tom's Aunt Polly, she is - and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before. Now — Mark Twain

Among other common lies, we have the _silent_ lie
the deception which one conveys by simply keeping still and concealing the truth. Many obstinate truth-mongers indulge in this dissipation, imagining that if they _speak_ no lie, they lie not at all. — Mark Twain

In truth I care little about any party's politics-the man behind it is the important thing. — Mark Twain

There are three types of lies
lies, damn lies, and statistics. — Benjamin Disraeli

If I can capture truth in its simplest form, beauty will follow like a sledgehammer. — Mark Twain

When ill luck begins, it does not come in sprinkles, but in showers. — Mark Twain

Always tell the truth; then you don't have to remember anything — Mark Twain

My own luck has been curious all my literary life; I never could tell a lie that anyone would doubt, nor a truth that anybody would believe. — Mark Twain

An awkward, unscientific lie is often as ineffectual as the truth. — Mark Twain

If you tell the truth you do not need a good memory! — Mark Twain

A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. — Mark Twain

The truth is, a person's memory has no more sense that his conscience, and no appreciation whatever of values and proportions. — Mark Twain

When in doubt, tell the truth. — Mark Twain

Most writers regard the truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are economical in its use. — Mark Twain

No real gentleman will tell the naked truth in the presence of ladies. — Mark Twain

I have never heard enough classical music to be able to enjoy it; & the simple truth is, I detest it. Not mildly, but will all my heart. To me an opera is the very climax & cap-stone of the absurd, the fantastic the unjustifiable. I hate the very name of opera - partly because of the nights of suffering I have endured in its presence, & partly because I want to love it and can't. — Mark Twain

Truth is neither alive nor dead; it just aggravates itself all the time ... — Mark Twain

A little farther on, he said, "What do you think of India?" "It's a hard question," I said. I wanted to tell him about the children I had seen that morning pathetically raiding the leftovers of my breakfast, and ask him if he thought there was any truth in Mark Twain's comment on Indians: "It is a curious people. With them, all life seems to be sacred except human life." But I added instead, "I haven't been here very long. — Paul Theroux

Humor is the good natured side of a truth. — Mark Twain

Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. — Mark Twain

This nation is like all the others that have been spewed upon the earth
ready to shout for any cause that will tickle its vanity or fill its pocket. What a hell of a heaven it will be when they get all these hypocrites assembled there!
- Letter to J. H. Twichell, 1/29/1901 — Mark Twain

Mark Twain is a voice of truth and a voice of equality and a voice of tolerance. Which means he is a voice of love. — Val Kilmer

You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly - Tom's Aunt Polly, she is - and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before. — Mark Twain

Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it. — Mark Twain

A little lie can travel half way 'round the world while Truth is still lacing up her boots. — Mark Twain

We never read the full explanatory surroundings of marvelously exciting things when we have no occasion to suppose that some irresponsible scribbler is trying to defraud us; we skip all that, and hasten to revel in the blood-curdling particulars and be happy. — Mark Twain

But it was ever thus, all through my life: whenever I have diverged from custom and principle and uttered a truth, the rule has been that the hearer hadn't strength of mind enough to believe it. — Mark Twain