30 Quotes About Speaking the Truth (when Everyone Else is Lying)

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Some time ago there was a pyramid scheme called Emgoldex and it became very popular among Filipinos before it was exposed as a scam. If one of your friends was about to be duped into believing and committing to it, one of the best things you can do for them is to tell them the truth about it. Whether they accept what you tell them or not, however, that’s for them to decide.

Now the reason why I’ve written this is because fake news, lies, and political manipulation appears to be far more rampant now than they were before. Terry Pratchett once said “a lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on.” A piece of fake news can reach millions long before someone verifies the facts and exposes the lie.

So what should you do when someone posts or defends lies? What do you do when a friend is about to fall for a scam, hoax, or a piece of fake news? Well that depends. Take these lessons as a guide.

30 Quotes About Speaking the Truth (when Everyone Else is Lying)

There was one occasion when a friend of mine shared fake news they like from a counterfeit website called “CCTN-TV” (it’s a fake of the official websites CCTN47.com and CCTN.org). When I told them the news was fake and I presented the facts, they refused to believe it and they simply launched insults and personal attacks against me. One of them quoted William Blake’s “a truth that’s told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent”. In their mind, any fact they don’t agree with is “bad”, and that justifies attacking the person presenting it.

Some people appreciate it when you correct their mistakes. Others react violently.

When you receive reasonable feedback from your boss or coworkers, do you resent it or do you use it as a basis for improvement? When YOU give feedback, do you insult people for their mistakes or do you intend to help them improve and avoid similar mistakes in the future? Whatever the case, be prudent when you give feedback or tell the truth. While some get in trouble for it (like Galileo when he explained that the earth revolved around the sun), telling the truth and breaking down misconceptions and lies have allowed humanity to progress. It also led to countries gaining freedom from tyranny and abuses of power.

Face it, people love sweet lies. Be truthful anyway.

• “Proof is boring. Proof is tiresome. Proof is an irrelevance. People would far rather be handed an easy lie than search for a difficult truth, especially if it suits their own purposes.” — Joe Abercrombie

• “The truth is always an insult or a joke, lies are generally tastier. We love them. The nature of lies is to please. Truth has no concern for anyone’s comfort.” — Katherine Dunn

• “The trust of the innocent is the liar’s most useful tool.” — Stephen King

• “Always remember… Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by idiots.” — Ziad K. Abdelnour

• “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” — Alduous Huxley

• “Fools lie, clever men stick to the truth.” — Michael Scott

• “Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.” — Mahatma Gandhi

• “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” — Dumbledore (J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone)

• “Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it’ll always get you the right ones.” — John Lennon

Be careful.

Know that you can be wrong, and know that some people don’t want to hear the facts. Those are two traps you need to be aware of.

• “A thousand fools believe a lie, and it’s good as truth.” — Joan Slonczewski

• “A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.” — William Blake

• “I do myself a greater injury in lying than I do him of whom I tell a lie.” — Michel de Montaigne

• “Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves.” — George Gordon Byron

• “More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren’t so busy denying them.” — Harold J. Smith

• “A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.” — Immanuel Kant

• “So don’t bother correcting mockers; they will only hate you. But correct the wise, and they will love you.” — Proverbs 9:8

• “Hypocrites get offended by the truth.” — Jess C. Scott

• “There is nothing worse for the lying soul than the mirror of reality.” — Steve Maraboli

• “If an offense come out of the truth, better is it that the offense come than that the truth be concealed.” — Thomas Hardy

• “As the facts change, change your thesis. Don’t be a stubborn mule, or you’ll get killed.” — Barry Sternlicht

• “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” — Søren Kierkegaard

Above all, be truthful anyway.

• “Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe.” — Henry David Thoreau

• “It takes strength and courage to admit the truth.” — Rick Riordan

• “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” — George Orwell

• “Truth never damages a cause that is just.” — Mahatma Gandhi

• “Liars are the cause of all the sins and crimes in the world.” — Epictetus

• “Those who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it.” — Lysander Spooner

• “That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.” — P. C. Hodgell

• “Fools multiply when wise men are silent.” — Nelson Mandela

• “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” — Thomas Jefferson

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