真的格言

東年選譯 

Henry David Thoreau:

The lawyer's truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency.

律師的真理算不上真理，只是一種言之成理、利己的權宜之計。 

George Orwell:

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.在欺詐普遍流行的時代，說實話就會像在鬧革命。 

Dorothy Thompson:

Fear grows in darkness; if you think there's a bogeyman around, turn on the light.

憂懼根植在黑暗中；假使你想像附近有嚇人的鬼怪，就開燈吧。 

Abraham Lincoln:

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four; calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.

如果將尾巴也視為一隻腳，狗有幾隻腳?四隻。

你將尾巴視為一隻腳，並不能改變狗只有四隻腳的事實。 

Truth is generally the best vindication against slander.

事實通常是防備詆毀的最佳辯護。 

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

你可能經常愚弄某些人，或在某些時候愚弄任何人；可是，你不可能永遠愚弄全部的人。 

Albert Einstein:

No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.

我的正確可能經不起不斷的試驗，而一次簡單的試驗就可能證明我是錯的。 

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.

任何誰，企圖將自己定位於真理和知識的裁判者，都會遭神明訕笑而失敗。 

Alfred North Whitehead:

There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil.

沒有全部的真理：所有的真理只具一半；把一半硬拗為全部，是邪惡玩弄。 

Anais Nin:

When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.

當我們不斷的盲目採納一種信仰，一種政治體制，一種文藝教條.....我們就會變成複製人，停止成長。 

The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself.

每個人的深刻生活，總是會不斷的超越自己，向真理發展。 

Andre Gide:

Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.

要相信尋找真理的人，不相信那些已找到真理的人。 

Bertrand Russell:

What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires -- desires of which he himself is often unconscious. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence.

一個人頑固堅信不適合的事理，正顯現那是他不自知的經常慾求。

如果給他真相看，但這些論據違背他的慾求，他會加以嚴密審視；除非這些證明勢不可擋，他一定頑抗到底。

反之，如果給他一點事證，讓他有足夠理由去照章實現慾求；即使證明微不足道，他也一定會接受。 

Buddha:

Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.

沒什麼好相信，如果只是因為說者是所謂有智慧的人，或是一種普遍流傳的見解。

沒什麼好相信，如果只是因為那是出自古書，或是被稱為具有神聖的理由。沒什麼好相信，如果只是因為有其他名人也相信。

只相信你親自的體驗以及判斷的真。 

David Hume:

Truth springs from argument amongst friends.

真理來自朋友間的爭辯。 

E. L. Doctorow:

History is the present. That's why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth.

歷史是以現在式進行的，這是為何每一世代都會再寫一次。但是，大部分的人把歷史看成是它虛構的最後結果。 

Emily Dickinson:

Truth is such a rare thing, it is delighted to tell it.

真理是這麼稀有的珍貴，將它揭示是快樂的事。 

Felix Adler:

The truth which has made us free will in the end make us glad also.

使我們自由的真理，也可能在後來讓我們快樂。 

Galileo:

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

一旦被找到，所有的真實都是容易認識和理解的；要點在於去發現它們。 

George Bernard Shaw:

New opinions often appear first as jokes and fancies, then as blasphemies and treason, then as questions open to discussion, and finally as established truths.

新的見解，初次乍看，往往會像是玩笑或幻想，會像是亵瀆、背叛或傲慢，然後變成可能引起討論的疑難問題，最後被確立為真理。

George Eliot:

Falsehood is easy, truth so difficult.

謊言容易，說真話非常困難。 

It is very hard to say the exact truth, even about your own immediate feelings – much harder than to say something fine about them which is not the exact truth.

說明確切的實情很困難，甚至於是說自己立即的感覺；說其中好的部份比較容易，雖然這些並不是所說的那樣真確。