Painful Truth Quotes

• It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell your friend his faults. So to love a man that you cannot bear to see a stain upon him, and to speak painful truth through loving words, that is friendship.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  Friendship, Patience, Truth

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.81

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• Don't lie to me. Don't deceive me. Give me the truth. Even if it breaks me. A painful truth is better than a pleasant lie.

  Yasmin Mogahed

  Lying, Giving, Painful

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• We all talk about how much we hate lies. Yet we prefer, so often, to be lied to....because it allows us to dodge all those painful truths we'd rather not hear.

  Douglas Kennedy

  Hate, Lying, Dodge

  Douglas Kennedy (2013). “The Douglas Kennedy Collection #2: Temptation, The Woman in the Fifth, and Leaving the World”, p.689, Simon and Schuster

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• It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts... For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.

  Patrick Henry

  Song, Eye, Men

  Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, delivered 23 March 1775 at Henrico Parrish Church St, Richmond Virginia, Second Virginia Convention

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• The painful truth is that while we might have the illusion, none of us are free.

  Laura Anne Gilman

  Might, Painful, Illusion

  "Flesh and Fire". Book by Laura Anne Gilman, 2009.

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• I prefer a painful truth over any blissful fantasy.

  Chelsea Manning

  Fantasy, Painful

  "Manning-Lamo Chat Logs Revealed". Excerpts from instant messenger chats, www.wired.com. July 13, 2011.

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• Most people are not looking for provable truths. As you said, truth is often accompanied by intense pain, and almost no one is looking for painful truths. What people need is beautiful, comforting stories that make them feel as if their lives have some meaning. Which is where religion comes from.

  Haruki Murakami

  Beautiful, Pain, People

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• Never hide things from hardcore thinkers. They get more aggravated, more provoked by confusion than the most painful truths.

  Criss Jami

  Honesty, Confusion, Painful

  Criss Jami (2015). “Killosophy”, p.91, Criss Jami

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• The harder we look at our aches and ailments, the more we will be startled by the painful truths they are trying to convey about our dangerously disembodied way of life.

  Marion Woodman

  Inspirational, Trying, Looks

  Marion Woodman (1993). “Conscious Femininity: Interviews with Marion Woodman”

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• Admit at least one painful truth to yourself every day. Teach yourself to feel that life would still be worth living even if you were not immeasurably superior to all your friends. Exercises of this sort, prolonged through several years, will at last enable you to admit facts without flinching, and will, in so doing, free you from the empire of fear over a very large field.

  Bertrand Russell

  Exercise, Years, Empires

  Bertrand Russell (2012). “The Conquest of Happiness”, p.173, Routledge

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• ...hear rumors and go digging for the painful truth beneath the lovely lies. You believe you have a right to these things, but you don't. When someone tells you a piece of their life, they're giving you a gift, not granting you your due.

  Patrick Rothfuss

  Lying, Believe, Giving

  Patrick Rothfuss (2011). “The Wise Man's Fear: The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day Two”, p.323, Penguin

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• Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.

  Patrick Ness

  Lying, Believe, Knowing

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• We hurt most who we love the most. Bad grammar, painful truth.

  Andy Stanley

  Hurt, Painful, Grammar

  Andy Stanley (2011). “Enemies of the Heart: Breaking Free from the Four Emotions That Control You”, p.24, Multnomah

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• Sometimes it’s more noble to tell a small lie than to deliver a painful truth.

  Robin Williams

  Lying, Noble, Sometimes

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• Flattery does not encourage the perfect flow of love in the vein of your relationship. Be genuine and speak out what you feel for each other without hiding the painful truth.

  Michael Bassey

  Speaks Out, Perfect, Doe

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• For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and provide for it.

  Patrick Henry

  Truth, Honesty, Integrity

  Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, delivered 23 March 1775 at Henrico Parrish Church St, Richmond Virginia, Second Virginia Convention

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• It is natural to man to indulge in the illusion of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, till she transforms us into beasts.

  Patrick Henry

  Hope, Truth, Eye

  Speech in the Virginia Convention (March 1775).

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• The time has also come to recognize the painful truth that traditional Judeo-Christian moral values of pain and pleasure in human relationships have contributed substantially to child abuse and to the prevalence of physical violence in Western civilization.... The religious system upon which our culture is based holds that pain, suffering and deprivation are moral and necessary to save one's soul and make one a 'good person.' The crucifixion and scourging of Christ are examples.

  James W. Prescott

  Christian, Religious, Children

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• The boarded-up homes, the decaying storefronts, the aging church rolls, kids from unknown families who swaggered down the streets - loud congregations of teenage boys, teenage girls feeding potato chips to crying toddlers, the discarded wrappers tumbling down the block - all of it whispered painful truths.

  Barack Obama

  Girl, Teenage, Block

  Barack Obama (2007). “Dreams From My Father”, p.157, Canongate Books

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• What is scurrilously called ragtime is an invention that is here to stay. That is now conceded by all classes of musicians... All publication s masquerading under the name of ragtime are not the genuine article... That real ragtime of the higher class is rather difficult to play is a painful truth which most pianists have discovered. Syncopations are no indication of light or trashy music... Joplin ragtime is destroyed by careless or imperfect rendering, and very often players lost the effect entirely by playing too fast.

  Scott Joplin

  Real, Player, Light

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