Truth
‹ 3 · Outline · 5 ›
4.The love, pursuit and service of truth
4a.Truth as the highest good and the philosopher's aim
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 13To learn the truth at daybreak and die at eve were enough.read · scan
- p. 52–53Man can exalt truth, not truth the man.read · scan
- p. 53The gentleman pines for truth, not troubled by poverty.read · scan
Plato, PhaedoVol. 2
- p. 54Pure souls will know the clear light of truth after release from the body.read · scan
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 627–628Blessed is he who hears and knows the truth in solitude.read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2
- p. 215Truth, law and benevolence likewise need no praise.read · scan
- p. 236I seek the truth by which no man was injured; he is injured who abides in error and ignorance.read · scan
- p. 241Passing life in truth is worth a great deal.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 193He prefers to be settled in truth and blamed by all than praised by all while frenzied in error.read · scan
Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36
- p. 50Machiavelli follows the real truth of things rather than imagined republics.read · scan
Nicolaus Copernicus, Dedication of the Revolutions of the Heavenly BodiesVol. 39
- p. 52The philosopher's endeavor is to seek out the truth in all things.read · scan
Michel de Montaigne, Of the Institution and Education of ChildrenVol. 32
- p. 37Truth and reason are common to all and belong no more to the first speaker than to later ones.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 49–51The curate is praised as a virtuous friend of truth who would say nothing against it.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 8The inquiry, knowledge and belief of truth are the sovereign good of human nature; standing on truth's vantage ground is the greatest pleasure.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Proœmium, Epistle Dedicatory, Preface, and Plan of the Instauratio MagnaVol. 39
- p. 126Bacon devotes himself to the love of truth against opinion, hesitation and the phantoms of nature.read · scan
- p. 126–128Bacon prays that knowledge be purged of vanity and fancy, that men 'cultivate truth in charity' and seek knowledge for use, not pride; truth treated only incidentally.read · scan
William Harvey, On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in AnimalsVol. 38
- p. 62Harvey says true philosophers love truth above antiquity, welcome new information from anyone, and do not desert truth for authority.read · scan
- p. 96Says the truth he contends for is confirmed even by Galen's words, for those who accept only authority.read · scan
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies A-BleedingVol. 47
- p. 700Philaster says he loves fair truth as his mistress and will cut off falsehood; he refuses to believe the report.read · scan
René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the SciencesVol. 34
- p. 6He finds satisfaction in progress in the search after truth.read · scan
- p. 10He desires to distinguish true from false to choose his path in life.read · scan
- p. 17Aim is to accustom the mind to love truth and dislike unsound reasonings.read · scan
Pierre Corneille, PolyeucteVol. 26
- p. 128Let each still search for truth and adore it.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise RegainedVol. 4
- p. 371Guiding nations by saving doctrine from error is most kinglyread · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 79–80We should seek truth without hesitation, not valuing men's esteem above it.read · scan
- p. 190–191Truth apart from charity is an idol, neither to be loved nor worshipped.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, LettersVol. 48
- p. 332No consolation except in truth, found in Christ and scripture, not pagan discourse.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48
- p. 387Pascal independently finds the same truths St. Augustine found; ancients had as much light as moderns.read · scan
- p. 444Truth outranks antiquity's authority, being older than all opinions about it, even when newly discovered.read · scan
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human UnderstandingVol. 37
- p. 319Love of truth is the one passion scepticism does not mortify, and it cannot be excessive.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among MankindVol. 34
- p. 165–166Inquiry is for those unafraid of honouring truth, free beings in quest of it.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Profession of Faith of a Savoyard VicarVol. 34
- p. 239Speaker claims regard for truth and shared reason as the judge.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24
- p. 152Price's zeal is for spreading any opinions, not diffusing truth.read · scan
Edward Jenner, The Three Original Publications on Vaccination Against SmallpoxVol. 38
- p. 171–173Jenner declares truth his object and would rather see his own offspring perish than do public injury.read · scan
William Ellery Channing, On the Elevation of the Laboring ClassesVol. 28
- p. 321–322Force of thought exerted to acquire truth is the first element of elevation.read · scan
- p. 323Human dignity rises as one directs mental energy to acquiring truth.read · scan
- p. 324–325Love of truth is the foundation of human culture and dignity; truth is the light of the Infinite Mind and alone endures.read · scan
- p. 339Truth is the natural food of the mind, freely spread and precious to all.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, CharacteristicsVol. 25
- p. 338Better literature holds some attempt toward truth while much is puffing, slander and falsehood.read · scan
- p. 348Schlegel was a seeker who valued finding and appropriating Truth above pensions and crowns.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25
- p. 443The writer embodies the True out of the Obscure, surrounded by the uncreated False.read · scan
John Henry Newman, The Idea of a UniversityVol. 28
- p. 32Books are a record of truth and an authority of appeal, an instrument in the teacher's hands.read · scan
- p. 36Unprincipled education risks waste of thought and extreme hazard of truth.read · scan
- p. 37Truth is a subtle spirit poured into the scholar's mind through senses, affections, imagination and reason.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American ScholarVol. 5
- p. 17Seeing error to be a lie deals it a mortal blow; men crowd to one whose mind is filled with a truth.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, An Address Delivered before the Senior Class in Divinity CollegeVol. 5
- p. 34The preacher's secret is to convert life into truth, drawing from real history.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Man the ReformerVol. 5
- p. 53The reformer is a renouncer of lies and restorer of truth and good.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Over-SoulVol. 5
- p. 137–138Best minds love truth for its own sake and claim no property in it.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, The PoetVol. 5
- p. 165–166Man watches for a brother who can hold him steady to a truth until he has made it his own.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 318Coleridge says loving the true for itself alone is a greater virtue than loving the good alone.read · scan
- p. 445Oxonians undervalue intellectual action studious of truth without a by-end.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 320–321His books concern what is true in the world, contrasted with the strange reality of his lost shadow.read · scan
John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28
- p. 98The author writes what he perceives to be true, useful or helpfully beautiful, which no one else has said.read · scan
James Russell Lowell, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1378–1379Harvard's motto Veritas is the seed-grain of high enterprise and the life of whatever makes life worth living.read · scan
4b.Method, patience and candour in the search
Sophocles, Oedipus the KingVol. 8
- p. 237Oedipus insists on tracking down the secret of his birth despite Jocasta's pleas to stop inquiring.read · scan
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 648Uprightness requires one who does not know to admit ignorance.read · scan
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2
- p. 138Show the unlearned the truth as a guide helps the lost, without mockery.read · scan
- p. 171The seeker of truth does not seek victory by any means and need not fear defeat.read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2
- p. 237He was pleased when anyone showed him something better.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 69Faustus is honest about his ignorance rather than teaching falsely, unlike other talkers.read · scan
- p. 76–77He hears Ambrose for style, unaware that he is being led toward the truth, which he despairs of finding in the Church.read · scan
- p. 77Attracted first by Ambrose's eloquence, he gradually perceives how truly he spoke, and seeks certain proof to convict the Manichees of falsehood.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, ParadiseVol. 20
- p. 343He who fishes for truth without skill returns worse; Parmenides, Melissus, and heretics Sabellius and Arius erredread · scan
Michel de Montaigne, Of the Institution and Education of ChildrenVol. 32
- p. 36–37The pupil should distinguish truth from falsehood; doubting pleases as much as knowing.read · scan
- p. 40He must quit his weapons to truth as soon as discerned, whether from adversary or himself.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Proœmium, Epistle Dedicatory, Preface, and Plan of the Instauratio MagnaVol. 39
- p. 129–131Bacon rejects premature reasoning abstracted from facts as uncertain and confused, and presents his method as ending infinite error; mainly a plan of work.read · scan
- p. 139Bacon admits only what is sound and verified, proscribing received falsehoods and fables that trouble the sciences.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Preface to the Novum OrganumVol. 39
- p. 144Logic has fixed errors rather than disclosing truth; the understanding must be guided step by step, like instruments aiding the hand, starting from sense perception.read · scan
- p. 144–145Unaided intellect and logic are futile, like bare hands moving an obelisk; Bacon notes errors of the ancients may be questioned, but the focus is method.read · scan
- p. 145–146Contrasts probable conjecture and disputation with certain, demonstrable knowledge gained by interpreting nature rather than anticipating it with preconceptions.read · scan
William Harvey, On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in AnimalsVol. 38
- p. 62–64Harvey avows himself partisan of truth alone; true students change opinion when demonstration requires and do not blame others for honest error.read · scan
- p. 72–73Prior accounts appear obscure and impossible; truth is to be sought by direct inspection.read · scan
- p. 92–93Calls a common assertion plainly false, correcting error by observation and admitting his own initial mistake.read · scan
Nathaniel Ward, The Body of LibertiesVol. 43
- p. 83Conference aims to search out truth and preserve peace, satisfying every man's conscience.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Dr. John DonneVol. 15
- p. 324He sought the true church impartially, and truth had too much light to be hid from so sharp an inquirer.read · scan
René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the SciencesVol. 34
- p. 15–16Hard truths are more likely found by one than by many.read · scan
- p. 25–26Descartes applies his Method to make questions almost mathematical, advancing in knowledge of truth; doubts what others esteem certain, seeks more certain principles.read · scan
- p. 49Withholds publication for fear his own doctrines may depart from truth.read · scan
- p. 53Writing tests truth: what seemed true in conception often appears false when written down.read · scan
- p. 53Seeking truth means surmounting errors; admitting a false general opinion sets one back, while sure principles allow advances.read · scan
- p. 54Truth is not discovered by contentious debate that pursues mere plausibility.read · scan
- p. 55Contrasts the mere appearance of truth, easily found, with truth itself, which unfolds slowly and requires confessing ignorance.read · scan
- p. 58–59Publishing objections with replies lets readers judge where truth lies; he will frankly avow errors.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 251He commits the truth of the work to ingenuous readers and submits it to maturer discernment.read · scan
- p. 256Truth may be possessed like a city yet be lost by rash defenders; better enjoyed in peace than hazarded in battle.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 81–82Those who truly desire truth must look in detail; superficial reflection suffices only for idle questions.read · scan
- p. 88We are urged to trouble ourselves to search for truth.read · scan
- p. 312–313Only truth gives certainty and only sincere search for truth gives rest; probability cannot assure conscience.read · scan
- p. 314If the merely probable is trustworthy, the saints' earnest search for truth was useless.read · scan
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning EducationVol. 37
- p. 159Truth is found by considering things themselves, not artificial terms; disputers forget truth for victory.read · scan
William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 335–336Truth should be the aim of debate.read · scan
- p. 336Truth needs little rhetoric; plain truth should not be despised; truth suffers from the heat of its defenders.read · scan
William Penn, More Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 385–386Glory of man to yield to truth; truth never lost ground by inquiry and is self-evident.read · scan
George Berkeley, Three Dialogues Between Hylas and PhilonousVol. 37
- p. 244–245Plenary assent requires time, pains and repeated attention to overcome prejudice.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 116Newton abandons his theory when the measure of the earth disagrees, unlike a vain half-learned philosopher who would force the data to fit.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Preface to ShakespeareVol. 39
- p. 245–246Fixing punctuation is hard for a mind pursuing evanescent truth.read · scan
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human UnderstandingVol. 37
- p. 363–364Appeals to dangerous consequences do not serve the discovery of truth, only make an antagonist odious.read · scan
- p. 407–408Slow, careful methods are the only way to reach truth and stable certainty.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Profession of Faith of a Savoyard VicarVol. 34
- p. 280He has done all he can toward truth, whose source is beyond his reach.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Preface to the Second Edition of On the Sublime and BeautifulVol. 24
- p. 7Burke admits obscurity and prejudice make it hard to show the genuine face of nature, preferring clarity to elegance.read · scan
Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and BeautifulVol. 24
- p. 47A man working beneath the surface may serve the cause of truth even through his errors.read · scan
Edward Jenner, The Three Original Publications on Vaccination Against SmallpoxVol. 38
- p. 147–148Warns that lack of discrimination could give delusive security; stresses precision against inaccuracy.read · scan
- p. 180–181Jenner guards the public against erroneous conclusions while holding the first-formed virus's power to be a truth.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, CharacteristicsVol. 25
- p. 345–346Hazlitt believes he seeks truth yet wrestles among endless sophisms.read · scan
- p. 349Hope's fearless endeavour after truth accomplished nothing, producing an absurd book.read · scan
Thomas Babington Macaulay, MachiavelliVol. 27
- p. 395–397Machiavelli's fairness of mind: never advances a false opinion for novelty; his errors are explained by circumstances.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, CirclesVol. 5
- p. 152–153A man must prefer truth to his past apprehension of it, wherever it comes from.read · scan
- p. 157–158No truth is so sublime it may not be trivial tomorrow; the author is only an experimenter.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 97Sterling loved truth in the highest and humblest things and did justice to opponents.read · scan
- p. 149Studying plausible errors to discover why they persuade is held to benefit truth.read · scan
- p. 170Mill's duty is to show things exactly as they were, treating the criticised philosopher with scrupulous fairness.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Origin of SpeciesVol. 11
- p. 19–20He asks trust in his accuracy and acknowledges facts may seem to oppose his conclusions.read · scan
Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Contagiousness of Puerperal FeverVol. 38
- p. 227–228Practitioners candidly confess they probably conveyed infection themselves, despite pain to their feelings.read · scan
Louis Pasteur, The Physiological Theory of FermentationVol. 38
- p. 343–344Brefeld frankly admits his earlier error and recognizes Pasteur's results as true.read · scan
- p. 345New facts make the older opinions of Mitscherlich and Berzelius untenable.read · scan
Thomas Henry Huxley, Science and CultureVol. 28
- p. 218Learner should seek truth among things, not words; an assertion outstripping evidence is a blunder and a crime.read · scan
4c.Sacrifice, loyalty and courage for truth
See also: Courage 7b · Religion 12c
Plato, The Apology of SocratesVol. 2
- p. 19–20He says he tells the truth even if offensive, that no honest fighter for right survives in politics.read · scan
Plato, CritoVol. 2
- p. 36–37Follow what the truth will say rather than the crowd.read · scan
Paul, The Second Epistle of Paul to the CorinthiansVol. 45
- p. 531–532'We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.'read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 160God loves the truth, and he who does it comes to the light; confession before witnesses.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, ParadiseVol. 20
- p. 360Dante fears being a timid friend to truth; told to remove all deceit and speak plainlyread · scan
Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German NationVol. 36
- p. 334–335Claims pope and clergy are the ones who persecute the truth, and fears approval by men would signal his cause is false.read · scan
Martin Luther, Concerning Christian LibertyVol. 36
- p. 337Luther insists his quarrel is with impiety and the word of truth, not morals, and he will not forsake the word.read · scan
John Calvin, Dedication of the Institutes of the Christian ReligionVol. 39
- p. 40Truth proceeded from solitary despised Micaiah, not from four hundred prophets of apparent authority.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, Preface to the History of the WorldVol. 39
- p. 113Truth is a mistress leading followers into misery; following too near is dangerous, too far loses her.read · scan
William Harvey, On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in AnimalsVol. 38
- p. 100–101He trusts his love of truth and the candour of cultivated minds despite the risk.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 251Browne feels bound by allegiance to truth to publish a correct copy, since falsehoods and misprinted truths circulate.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 180Abdiel refuses to swerve from truth though aloneread · scan
- p. 204God praises Abdiel for maintaining the cause of truth, mightier in word than rebels in armsread · scan
- p. 204Abdiel links faith and truth against a majority in error: how few may know when thousands errread · scan
- p. 342Truth retires slandered, works of faith rarely found in the world.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 309Showing truth causes belief, while proof of injustice does not correct it.read · scan
- p. 310–311Jesuits have not made truth uncertain but have made their own ungodliness certain; offense to truth or love is evil.read · scan
- p. 313–314Abuse of true principles ought to be punished as much as introducing falsehood.read · scan
- p. 314–315Silence is the greatest persecution; one must cry out for truth when Rome condemns it unjustly.read · scan
- p. 315–316Demands censurers name the evil and why it is evil, grounded in tradition.read · scan
- p. 316Pascal, alone against thirty thousand, says truth is his whole strength and asks God that it not be overcome.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, LettersVol. 48
- p. 344Our mission is to combat for truth, not make it triumph; truth cannot be forced by demonstrationread · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 93–94Pilgrims answer that they buy the Truth, provoking scorn and abuse.read · scan
- p. 101–102One dies as testimony to the Truth and another rises to companion Christian.read · scan
- p. 295–297Little or more are nothing to him who has truth on his side.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 110–111Descartes left France in search of truth persecuted by the schools.read · scan
John Woolman, The Journal of John WoolmanVol. 1
- p. 206Prophets lament that none pleads for truth.read · scan
- p. 239–240Testimony must not be shaped to please those not obedient to the cross.read · scan
William Ellery Channing, On the Elevation of the Laboring ClassesVol. 28
- p. 325–327Willingness to make sacrifices for truth is the basis of intellectual elevation.read · scan
John Henry Newman, The Idea of a UniversityVol. 28
- p. 47Oxford once served as soldier of the Truth, an honour now lost.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, CompensationVol. 5
- p. 87–88The man of genius must be faithful to new revelations of truth and afflict those who love him.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, WorshipVol. 5
- p. 287–288Cleave to the truth; a man's truth outlasts his words and is our only armor in life and death.read · scan
James Russell Lowell, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1380Those who died fighting for Truth loved her best; faith joined to deed finds her, not dusty books.read · scan
- p. 1382Loyalty to Truth may be sealed in closet or field, but the true man stands by her against a lie.read · scan
4d.Truth, poetry and beauty
See also: Nature 8a · Poetry 9b
Sir Philip Sidney, The Defense of PoesyVol. 27
- p. 39–40Poesy is not an art of lies but of true doctrine.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 17The pleasant must be drawn from the true.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48
- p. 420–421The truth of passion is not so easily disguised as serious truth.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 5Truth may be clothed in figures yet still informs judgment, mind and will; dark words hold truth.read · scan
- p. 5Truth may be conveyed in any manner God pleases, so long as it is not abused.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 145–146Waller's reply implies poets flatter with fiction; the Dutch ambassador's retort is franker.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Life of Addison, 1672-1719Vol. 27
- p. 198–199Truth appears in many dresses, as vision, allegory, fancy or reason, and pleases in all.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Introduction to the PropyläenVol. 39
- p. 260–261The lawgiving artist strives for the truth of art, the lawless for the reality of Nature.read · scan
Friedrich von Schiller, Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of ManVol. 32
- p. 250–251Both impulses aim at truth and perfection, material truth and formal truth, and the mind takes them more freely in the beautiful.read · scan
- p. 281Knowledge separates conceptions from sensations, unlike beauty where reflection blends with feeling.read · scan
- p. 284Aesthetic appearance, being play not deception, cannot injure truth, unlike logical appearance.read · scan
William Wordsworth, Prefaces to Various Volumes of PoemsVol. 39
- p. 279Poetry's truth is general and operative, not local, its own testimony, needing no external evidence.read · scan
- p. 281The scientist seeks truth as a remote benefactor, while the poet rejoices in truth as a visible friend and companion; poetry is the breath of all knowledge.read · scan
- p. 281–282Poet's pictures have 'sanctity and truth' that ornaments would violate; poetic diction should not deviate from the real language of nature.read · scan
William Wordsworth, Appendix to Lyrical BalladsVol. 39
- p. 292Readers with judgement lulled could not distinguish true from false language of passion.read · scan
William Wordsworth, Essay Supplementary to PrefaceVol. 39
- p. 322Reality and truth show through even in burlesque pastorals, which were read as just representations of rural life.read · scan
- p. 323Pope's moonlight translation is called false and contradictory, admired despite its absurdity.read · scan
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, On Poesy or ArtVol. 27
- p. 256–257Horror of falsehood and love of truth underlie our disgust at wax-work deception.read · scan
Leigh Hunt, On the Realities of ImaginationVol. 27
- p. 292–293Intellectual objects that move us exist as truly as visible ones; the test of seeing is the ideas realised and pleasure gained.read · scan
Thomas De Quincey, Levana and Our Ladies of SorrowVol. 27
- p. 324Through the furnace of sorrow he will read elder, sad, grand, fearful truths and see unutterable secrets.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Defence of PoetryVol. 27
- p. 333–334Authors of revolutions in opinion are poets whose images unveil the permanent analogy of things and participate in the life of truth.read · scan
- p. 335Poetry contains eternal truth that time augments, while time destroys the use of stories of particular facts.read · scan
John Keats, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 878–879Identifies beauty with truth as the whole of earthly knowledge.read · scan
Victor Hugo, Preface to CromwellVol. 39
- p. 338He claims to be an apprentice of nature and truth, offering sincere conviction in default of talent.read · scan
- p. 351–352The characteristic of ode is ingenuousness, of epic simplicity, of drama truth.read · scan
- p. 358The rule opposes probability and truth, which scholastics hold cheap.read · scan
- p. 364–365The poet takes counsel of nature, truth and inspiration, itself both truth and nature.read · scan
- p. 370–371Sanitizing Henri IV's speech is called the apotheosis of falsity; the false style lacks truth.read · scan
- p. 383–384Hopes his thoughts may start the public on the road of truth in art.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, The PoetVol. 5
- p. 162All men live by truth and need expression; the poet is isolated by truth and art.read · scan
- p. 163The Knower, Doer and Sayer stand for love of truth, good and beauty, three equal powers.read · scan
- p. 165The value of genius lies in the veracity of its report; talent frolics while genius realizes and adds.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, BeautyVol. 5
- p. 302–304Veracity first of all: nothing is beautiful but the true.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 325–326Whatever combines a truth with an affection is good forever.read · scan
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, What Is a Classic?Vol. 32
- p. 123–124A true classic discovers some moral and unequivocal truth or reveals an eternal passion in the heart.read · scan
Edgar Allan Poe, The Poetic PrincipleVol. 28
- p. 374–375Rejects the notion that the ultimate object of poetry is Truth or that a poem must inculcate a moral.read · scan
- p. 375–376Truth demands simple, precise, cool language, opposite to the poetical mode; poetry and truth are oil and water.read · scan
- p. 377–378Poetry has no concern with Duty or Truth except incidentally.read · scan
- p. 391Truth satisfies reason but poetic effect derives from the harmony it reveals, not the truth itself.read · scan
Walt Whitman, Preface to Leaves of GrassVol. 39
- p. 396The poet will tell things precisely for what they are, like a mirror.read · scan
Matthew Arnold, The Study of PoetryVol. 28
- p. 65–66Poetry must distinguish true from half-true, and charlatanism must find no entrance into thought and art.read · scan
- p. 74Following Aristotle, the best poetry is marked by higher truth and seriousness, which give its substance special character.read · scan
- p. 77–78Poetry as a high criticism of life has truth of substance through a large, free, sound representation of things.read · scan
- p. 79Poetic truth of substance is joined with truth of style, yet high seriousness is a further requirement.read · scan
- p. 85–86Poetic sincerity is required; insincere bravado in convivial verse makes it poetically unsound.read · scan
- p. 87Poetic truth and beauty set the laws of poetry; Burns has truth of matter and manner but not the highest accent.read · scan
‹ 3 · Outline · 5 ›