31 verified quotes from 25 writers, c. 475 BC to 1923.
Quotes 17 to 31 of 31, page 2 of 2.
Continued from page 1, which has our introduction. Still oldest first.
What “verified” means, and what we leave out: How we verify.
No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true
Our note: The narrator on the minister Arthur Dimmesdale, who hides his part in Hester's sin.
Verified in the full text of The Scarlet Letter on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #33
Painted the same decade: Scene in the Jewish Quarter of Constantine, Théodore Chassériau, 1851
Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!
Our note: The moral Hawthorne draws near the end of the novel.
Verified in the full text of The Scarlet Letter on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #33
Painted the same decade: The Artist's Sitting Room in Ritterstrasse, Adolph Menzel, 1851
Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.
Our note: One of the closing lines of Walden.
Verified in the full text of Walden on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #205
Painted the same decade: The Artist's Sitting Room in Ritterstrasse, Adolph Menzel, 1851
Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all
Our note: Another of the Autocrat's table-talk sayings.
Verified in the full text of The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #751
Painted the same decade: The Artist's Sitting Room in Ritterstrasse, Adolph Menzel, 1851
If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind
Our note: The opening of Mill's chapter on the liberty of thought and discussion.
Verified in the full text of On Liberty on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #34901
Painted the same decade: Madame Frederic Breyer (Fanny Hélène Van Bruyssel, 1830–1894), Gustave Courbet, 1858
I like good strong words that mean something
Our note: Jo defends her use of slang.
Verified in the full text of Little Women on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #514
Painted the same decade: The Collector of Prints, Edgar Degas, 1866
It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs
Our note: Bathsheba Everdene, trying to answer a man's declaration.
Verified in the full text of Far from the Madding Crowd on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #107
Painted the same decade: Eugène Murer (Hyacinthe-Eugène Meunier, 1841–1906), Auguste Renoir, 1877
My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt
Our note: A plain statement of the book's moral about standing up to cruelty.
Verified in the full text of Black Beauty on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #271
Painted the same decade: Eugène Murer (Hyacinthe-Eugène Meunier, 1841–1906), Auguste Renoir, 1877
Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others.
Our note: The elder Zossima's advice to a visitor at the monastery.
Verified in the full text of The Brothers Karamazov on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #28054
Painted the same decade: Portrait of a Woman, Henri Fantin-Latour, 1885
Above all, avoid falsehood, every kind of falsehood, especially falseness to yourself
Our note: Zossima's advice to Madame Hohlakov, who asks how to find faith.
Verified in the full text of The Brothers Karamazov on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #28054
Painted the same decade: Study for "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte", Georges Seurat, 1884
…she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.
Our note: The narrator on Edna Pontellier's awakening.
Verified in the full text of The Awakening on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #160
Painted the same decade: Irises, Vincent van Gogh, 1890
The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
Our note: Algernon replies to Jack's promise to tell the "pure and simple" truth.
Verified in the full text of The Importance of Being Earnest on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #844
Painted the same decade: Irises, Vincent van Gogh, 1890
Artistic growth is, more than it is anything else, a refining of the sense of truthfulness.
Our note: The narrator on how an artist matures, as Thea Kronborg finds her voice.
Verified in the full text of The Song of the Lark on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #44
Painted the same decade: Tilla Durieux (Ottilie Godeffroy, 1880–1971), Auguste Renoir, 1914
The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend!
Our note: Ellen Olenska to Newland Archer, on returning to New York society.
Verified in the full text of The Age of Innocence on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #541
Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth."
Our note: From the prophet Almustafa's words on self-knowledge.
Verified in the full text of The Prophet on Project Gutenberg · Project Gutenberg ebook #58585
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