INTRODUCTION

On this page you will find quotations on the primacy of Truth from a wide number of sources. Thinkers throughout the ages have seen the importance of Truth even though they have not necessarily been able to define it.

This section has expanded with quotations from a wide number of unexpected sources. To be fair to the authors, I have included the context of several quotes in which these important ideas were presented. I do not necessarily endorse every opinion, because it becomes clear that when one studies the rest of the writings of these authors, their notion of Truth is usually far off the mark from what I believe is the correct definition of Truth.

QUOTES ON TRUTH

Truth is the first principle of Thy words.
Psalm 119:160

The truth is to be prized and reverenced above all things else.
Dionysius; (c165-175 AD); ANF6; p81.

There is no more pleasant food for the soul than the knowledge of truth.
Lactantius; (c240-320); ANF7; p10.

Nothing is greater than truth.
Clement of Alexandria; (c150-216); ANF2; Stromata; Bk vii, Ch xviii; p554.

Nothing can be clearer or mightier than truth.
Chrysostom; (349-407); NPNF-I-14; p99.

[…] while both are dear, piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.
Aristotle; (384-322 BC); Nicomachean Ethics; 1096a.

Truth is that than which nothing is more powerful.
Justin; (c150-160); ANF1; Fragments; p301.

The gospel of truth is a joy for those who have received from the Father of truth the gift of knowing him[…]
Gospel of Truth; 2nd c. AD.; The Nag Hammadi Library; J. M. Robinson; p37.

Do not prize concord above truth, but make a noble stand, even to death.
Chrysostom; (349-407); NPNF-I-11; p508.

Truth is not merely one good among others, it is the highest good.
St. Augustine; (354-430); De Libero Arbitrio; Williams; p59.

Truth is accountable to no mortal thing, but stands above them all.
Chrysostom; (349-407); NPNF-I -14; p99.

St. John; 6:27- For him hath God the Father sealed.
The Jews speak much of the seal of God; which may not be impertinently remembered at this time,
“What is the seal of the holy blessed God? R. Bibai, in the name of R. Reuben, saith, Truth (AMT). But what is truth?
R. Bon saith, The living God and King eternal.
Resh Lachish saith, Aleph is the first letter of the alphabet, Mem the middle, and Tav the last: q. d. I the Lord am the first; I received nothing of any one; and beside me there is no God: for there is not any that intermingles with me; and I am with the last.”

There is a story of the great synagogue weeping, praying, and fasting; “At length there was a little scroll fell from the firmament to them, in which was written, Truth. R. Chaninah saith, Hence learn that truth is the seal of God.”

We may easily apply all this to Christ, who is “the way, the truth, and the life,” John xiv. 8: he is the express image of his Father, the truth of the Father; whom the Father, by his seal and diploma, hath confirmed and ratified; as the great ruler both of his kingdom and family.
Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica; John Lightfoot (1602-1675); Vol. 3; Matthew – 1 Corinthians; 1675/1859/2003; p303; Exercitations upon St. John; ch6 v27.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[…] we must acknowledge that there is one kind of being which is always the same, uncreated and indestructible, never receiving anything into itself from without, nor itself going out to any other, but invisible and imperceptible by any sense, and of which contemplation is granted to intelligence only.
Plato; Timaeus; [52]; 375 BC.


O son, Truth is the most perfect virtue, and the highest good itself, not troubled by matter, not encompassed by a body, naked, clear, unchangeable, venerable, unalterable good.
What therefore doth thou affirm to be the first Truth, O father?
The One and Only, that is not of matter, that is not in a body, that is without color, without figure or shape, Immutable, Unalterable, which always is.
Hermes Trismegistus; Bk XV; 2nd c. AD.

The Odes have clear similarities to the Gospel of John. There is wide agreement that the Odes are related to the Gospel of john and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Odes reflect a surprising emphasis on spreading the knowledge of God. The key characteristic in these hymns is a joyous tone of thanksgiving for the advent of the Messiah who had been promised.

The Odes of Solomon mention Christ as the Logos and that He is pre-existent. The Odist calls Jesus both the son of Man and Son of God.

The book mentions the mother of the Messiah, he alludes to His death by crucifixion and His descent into Hades.

“Knowledge” is always a reference to God’s gift of His self-revelation.

Odes of Solomon; Wikipedia
[5/29/25]

Ode 1- Plaited for me is the crown of truth, and it caused Your branches to blossom in me.

Ode 3- Indeed he who is joined to Him who is immortal, truly shall be immortal.

Ode 8- Hear the word of truth, and receive the knowledge of the Most High.

Ode 9- An everlasting crown is Truth; blessed are they who set it on their head.

Ode 11- And I was established upon the rock of truth, where He had set me.

Ode 12- He has filled me with words of truth, that I may proclaim Him. And like the flowing of waters, truth flows from my mouth, and my lips declare His fruits. And He has caused His knowledge to abound in me, because the mouth of the Lord is the true Word, and the entrance of His light. Blessed are they who by means of Him have perceived everything, and have known the Lord in His truth. Hallelujah.

Ode 14- Teach me the odes of Your truth, that I may produce fruits in You.

Ode 15- And eternal life has arisen in the Lord’s land, and it has been declared to His faithful ones, and has been given without limit to all that trust in Him.
Hallelujah.

Ode 17- And the thought of truth led me, and I went after it and wandered not. And He glorified me by His kindness, and raised my understanding to the height of truth.

Ode 18- Then they spoke the truth, from the breath which the Most High breathed into them.

Ode 20- For His glory will go before you; and you shall receive of His kindness and of His grace; and you shall be anointed in truth with the praise of His holiness.

Ode 23- And there was seen at its head, the head which was revealed, even the Son of Truth from the Most High Father.

Ode 24- And the Lord destroyed the devices, of all those who had not the truth with them. So they were rejected, because the truth was not with them.

Ode 25- And I became mighty in Your truth, and holy in Your righteousness.

Ode 32- To the blessed ones the joy is from their heart, and light from Him who dwells in them; And the Word of truth who is self-originate, Because He has been strengthened by the Holy Power of the Most High; and He is unshaken for ever and ever. Hallelujah.

Ode 38- I went up into the light of Truth as into a chariot, and the Truth led me and caused me to come. And He went with me and caused me to rest and did not allow me to err; because He was and is the Truth.

Ode 39- And His footsteps stand firm upon the waters, and were not destroyed; but they are like a beam of wood that is constructed on truth.

Ode 41- Let all the Lord’s babes praise Him, and let us receive the truth of His faith. For the Father of Truth remembered me; he who possessed me from the beginning. The Messiah in truth is one. And He was known before the foundations of the world, that He might give life to persons for ever by the truth of His name.

The Odes of Solomon; Anonymous; 2nd c. AD. The Gnostic Society Library

Without the truth there is no knowing.
Thomas à Kempis; (1380-1471); Imitation of Christ; Bk 3; ch 56.

The Truth is one thing for which there are no known substitutes.
Unknown.

Men seek the Truth not because it is lost, but because they are.
Unknown.

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me Truth.
Henry Thoreau; (1817-1862); Walden; Ch 18.

 Would that I could discover truth as easily as I can discover falsehood.
Cicero; 44 BC.

[…] if truth had a beginning or will have an end, then  before truth began it was true that there was no truth, and after it will have ended, it will then be true that there will be no truth. […] Therefore truth existed before there was truth, and truth will exist after truth will have ended. This is utterly absurd. Therefore whether truth be said to have a beginning or an end, or be understood not to have a beginning or an end, truth cannot be limited by a beginning and an end.
St. Anselm of Canterbury; (1033-1109); Monologion, Opera Omnia; I; p33.

The truth is the truth whether it is believed or not. It doesn’t hurt the truth not to be believed, but it hurts you and me if we don’t believe it.
G. H. Hapworth

[…] be disposed to addict your mind to the investigation of truth.
John Calvin; (1509-1564); Commentary on Genesis; v1; pt2.

Our maker […] has made us capable of Truth.
John Balguy; (1686-1748); The Foundation of Moral Goodness; 1728; p68

We cannot find contentment in anything but truth.
B. Spinoza; (1632-1677); Ethics

There is no virtue equal to Truth; there is nothing superior to Truth; Truth is God himself.
Mahabharata; Bk 1; Sec. LXXIV; 5th c. BC Hindu epic.

Great is the truth, and mighty above all things […] all human beings are unrighteous. There is no truth in them and in their unrighteousness they will perish. But truth endures and is strong forever, and lives and prevails forever and ever. To it belongs the strength and the kingship and the power and the majesty of all the ages. Blessed be the God of truth. Great is truth, the mightiest of all.
1 Esdras 4:35-41.

[…] where I found truth, there I found my God, who is the Truth itself.
St. Augustine; (354-430); Confessions; X; 24.

5 […] And you see the earth still; but when We send down water on it, it vibrates, and swells, and grows all kinds of lovely pairs.
6 That is because Allah is the truth, and because He gives life to the dead, and because He is capable of everything.
Quran; Sura 22; vs 5-6

In the beginning was the TRUTH, and the TRUTH was with God, and God was the TRUTH.  
John 1:1; George Swann; New Testament; 1947 [11/8/10]

We must not think the Truth is from God, or about God, or of God, [but] we must positively know that the Truth is God!  It might give a more simple and correct concept of God to quote John 1:1 thus: “[…] In the beginning was the Truth, and the Truth was with God, and the Truth was God.”
Dr. Charles W. Noble Sr., Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, Newark, OH

According to Plato’s unmistakable assertion, the “allegory of the cave” illustrates the essence of education. On the other hand, the exposition of the “allegory” we are now attempting, is supposed to point out the Platonic “doctrine” of truth.
Unhiddenness in Greek is αλήθεια, which word is translated as “truth.” And for a long time, “truth” has meant, for the western mind, the agreement of the mental concept (or representation) with the thing: adequatio intellectus et rei.
Martin Heidegger; Plato’s Doctrine of Truth; 1947

The Greeks were right when they called the logos the principle of truth.
Emil Brunner; (1889-1966); Truth as Encounter; 1938/1963; p23

Truth comes only from Him who is the truth, and neither Jewish prophet nor heathen philosopher can attain to it, save by His aid.
Frederic W. Farrar; (1831-1903); Seekers after God; 1890; pix.

What is truth? This question seems the supreme question of philosophy and science and the pursuit of knowledge. Science seeks truth. Art seeks beauty. Society seeks justice. Truth tops the list of these three noble pursuits.
Bart Kosko; Fuzzy Thinking; 1993; p80.

He who wages war against the truth has no power, but rather wounds himself, as one who kicks against the spike.
Chrysostom; (349-407); NPNF-I-13; p191.

But as the mind [is] to the body, so must also truth be preferred to the mind itself, so that the mind should desire it not only more than the body, but even more than its own self. So will the mind be more entire and chaste, when it shall enjoy the immutability of truth, rather than its own mutability.
St. Augustine; (354-430); On Lying; s10

[…] it is impossible for our intellect to know any truth with certitude without in some way coming into contact with the highest truth.
[…] Therefore, the principle of our knowledge of any particular being is truth itself, and this is God. 
St. Bonaventure; (1221-1274); Disputed Questions on the Knowledge of Christ; qIV.
[5-12-2014]

Since the Truth is come, the Types have no longer any place.
Chrysostom; (349-407); NPNF-I-12; p86.

[…] TRUTH, which is the first character of the divine nature, considered, as fully expressed and showed out to men, just exactly as it is in its own self, presents to us the second person in the sacred three.
In the same view, no wonder remains, that JESUS CHRIST claimed every character proper to original truth, or pure divinity.
Timothy Allen; Answer to Pilate’s Question (What is Truth?); 1765; pp 12,13

The soul is not in itself immortal, O Greeks, but mortal. Yet it is possible for it not to die. If, indeed, it knows not the truth, it dies […] But if it acquires the knowledge of God, it does not die.
Tatian; (c110-172); ANF2; p70.

Men of great talent […] applied to the pursuit of investigating the truth which they so greatly desired to know that they even preferred it to all things. But they did not obtain the object of their wish, because the truth, that is the secret of the Most High God, who created all things, cannot be attained by our own ability and perceptions. Otherwise there would be no difference between God and man.
Lactantius; (c240-320); The Divine Institutes; ANF7; p9.

I am not unjust as to imagine that they could divine, so that they might find out the truth themselves, for I acknowledge that this is impossible. To understand that which is false is truly the part of wisdom, but of human wisdom. Beyond this step man cannot proceed, but to know the truth is the part of divine wisdom. But man by himself cannot attain to this knowledge unless he is taught by God.
Lactantius; (c240-320); The Divine Institutes; ANF7; p44.

Philosophers have reached the height of human wisdom, so as to understand that which is not; but they have failed in attaining the power of saying that which really is. It is a well-known saying of Cicero: “I wish that I could as easily find out the truth as I can refute false things.” And because this is beyond the power of man’s condition, the capability of this office is assigned to us, to whom God has delivered the knowledge of the truth.
Lactantius; (c240-320); The Divine Institutes; ANF7; p44.

Since the truth is not of this world […] and since the truth is of an entirely spiritual nature, the various arrangements of matter can contribute nothing to its success or ruin.
Nicolas Malebranche; (1638-1715); The Search after Truth; p539.

God has made the nature of man most desirous of arriving at the truth, but they neither know what was true in itself, nor how, nor where, nor with what mind it is to be sought.
Lactantius; (c240-320); The Divine Institutes; ANF7; p69.

In none of the patriarchs, in none of the prophets, in none of the apostles was there the truth: only in Jesus. For the others knew in part […]  they saw as in a mirror, confusedly. The truth of God appeared only in Jesus, who said without hesitation: I am the truth.
St. Jerome; (347-420); Ephesians.

It follows that no other hope is proposed to man, unless he shall follow the true religion and true wisdom, which is in Christ, and he who is ignorant of Him is always estranged from the truth and from God.
Lactantius; (c240-320); The Divine Institutes; ANF7;  p44.

Now the Prophet of the Truth is He who always knows all things, alone entrusted with the declaration of the truth. Read and you shall find that those were deceived who thought that they had found the truth of themselves. For this is peculiar to the Prophet, to declare the truth. As many as have desired to know the truth, but have not had the good fortune to learn from Him, have not found it, but have died seeking it. For how can he find the truth who seeks it from his own ignorance? And even if he find it, he does not know it, and passes it by as if it were not.
Clementine Homilies; 4th. c. AD; ANF8; p229.

Now it is evident that he who knows not the truth, does not have a true knowledge of God also.
Socrates Scholasticus; (c390-450); NPNF-II; p33.

Pilate says to him: What is truth?
Jesus says to him: Truth is from heaven.
Pilate says: Is truth not upon earth?
Jesus says to Pilate: Thou seest how those who speak the truth are judged by those that have the power upon the earth.
The Gospel of Nicodemus; 4th c. AD; ANF8; p418.

If Jesus says, “I am the truth,” he indicates that in Him the true, the genuine, the ultimate reality is present; or, in other words, that God is present, unveiled, undistorted, in His infinite depth, in His unapproachable mystery. Jesus is not the truth because His teachings are true. But His teachings are true because they express the truth which He Himself is. He is more than His words. And He is more than any word said about Him.
Paul Tillich; (1886-1965); The New Being; 1955; Ch. 8.

All therefore who ever sought the truth, trusting to themselves to be able to find it, fell into a snare. This is what the philosophers of the Greeks have suffered, not knowing that he who seeks the truth cannot learn it from his own understanding. For not even, as I said, can he recognize her when she stands by him, since he is unacquainted with her. Hence beloved Clement, if you would know the things pertaining to God, you have to learn them from Him alone, because He alone knows the truth.
Clementine Homilies; 4th. c. AD; p230.

And what is Truth? That which is not fashioned, nor made, nor represented by art; that is, which has never been brought into existence, and is on that account called truth.
Melito the Philosopher; (c160-177); ANF8; p753.

Truth, the one integral truth, is God, and to perceive Truth, is to enter divine life.
Nikolas Berdyaev (1874-1948) The Realm of Spirit and the Realm of Caesar; 1952; p29


Truth– is as old as God–
His Twin identity
And will endure as long as He
A Co-Eternity–
And perish on the Day
Himself is borne away
From Mansion of the Universe
A lifeless Deity.
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Truth is the holy and good thought of God completely unveiled; it is God revealed.
Frederic Godet; (1812-1900); Gospel of John Commentary; 1886; p274.

Truth is God’s very reality revealing itself […] in Jesus.
Rudolf Bultmann; (1884-1976); Theology of the NT.

Truth is God known.
Frederic Godet; (1812-1900); Gospel of John Commentary; 1886; p279.

A writer who says that there are no truths, or that all truth is ‘merely relative,’ is asking you not to believe him. So don’t.
Roger Scruton; Modern Philosophy: An Introduction and Survey;

The evangelist affirms that the Torah did not, in the full sense, bring grace and truth, but Christ does. The Torah therefore is but a shadow of the true Word of God, which came in its full reality, in Jesus Christ.
C. H. Dodd; (1884-1973); The Fourth Gospel; 1953/1958; p295.

Truth, in short, is knowledge of God through Jesus; such knowledge of God as through Jesus makes men veritably sons of God.
Edwyn Hoskins; (1884-1937); Francis Davey; The Riddle of the New Testament; 1931/1936; p39

The true knowledge of God is not the result of philosophical investigation. This central and living knowledge of God, which is the only true knowledge, was not possessed by any man, either within or outside of the theocracy, not even by Moses. One can know everything else, not God! The full truth does not exist on earth before or outside of Jesus Christ, and it truly came through him.
Frederic Godet; (1812-1900); Gospel of John Commentary; 1886; p280.

We think we know what truth is. The chances are we are thinking in Hellenistic terms, identifying truth with what corresponds to reality. But the writers of Scripture were not as greatly influenced by this conception of truth as by the Hebrew conception which identifies as truth what corresponds to the nature and purpose of God.
Everett F. Harrison; The Phenomena of Scripture; in Revelation and the Bible; Carl. F. H. Henry; ed.; 1959; p239.

It is tacitly assumed throughout, that “the Truth” and “the knowledge of God” are identical terms.
Brooke F. Westcott; (1825-1901); Gospel of John Commentary; 1908; p27.

It is by Christ alone that God makes himself known to us. As God dwells in inaccessible light (I Tim 6:16), he cannot be known but in Christ, who is his lively image.
John Calvin; (1509-1564)

This is the only salvation for man: knowledge of God.
Way of Hermes; p49; Hermes; Book X

… indeed, what is happiness, if not the knowledge of truth?
Etienne Gilson; History of Medieval Philosophy; p50

[…] Jesus is the truth; He does not simply state it. One does not come to Him to ask about truth; one comes to Him as the truth.
Rudolf Bultmann; (1884-1976); The Gospel of John; 1964/1975; p606.

For by whom has truth ever been discovered without God? By whom has God ever been found without Christ? By whom has Christ ever been explored without the Holy Spirit? By whom has the Holy Spirit ever been attained without the mysterious gift of faith?
Tertullian; (c155-230); ANF3; A Treatise on the Soul; p181.


Can that be wisdom which is changeable? For what alters and changes and has no stay in one and the same condition, how can that be true? Hence it is that Christ is not only God, but very God indeed- very God of very God, insomuch that He Himself is the Truth. If, then, we enquire His name, it is “The Truth.”
St. Ambrose; (c340-397);  NPNF-II-10; p219.

The Truth
Henry M. Morris
Days of Praise
Tuesday, June 22, 2010[?]

“And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:4)

This is the last of eleven occurrences of “the truth” in Paul’s two letters to Timothy. He was not writing about the importance of being truthful in general, but about a specific body of factual information concerning Jesus Christ and its vital importance. Thus “the truth” was a very important theme in both of Paul’s letters to this young pastor-- and, by implication, to all God-called pastors.

Paul first speaks of “the knowledge of the truth” as required for salvation (1 Timothy 2:4), then of his own teaching as “the truth in Christ” (1 Timothy 2:7), then of “the church of the living God” as “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15), and of Christians as those who “believe and know the truth” (1 Timothy 4:3). He stresses the importance of studying the Bible as “the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), and also that true repentance requires “the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Timothy 2:25).

Paul also warns of false and covetous teachers who are “destitute of the truth” (1 Timothy 6:5) and who therefore “concerning the truth have erred” (2 Timothy 2:18) There will even he false prophets who “resist the truth” and are “reprobate concerning the faith” (2 Timothy 3:8).

As a result of the teachings of these false teachers, there will be many so-called seekers of truth who are “ever learning” yet who seem “never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). The reason they never find the truth is because they “turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:4).
The fact is that Jesus said: “I am… the truth” and also that “thy word is truth” (John 14:6; 17:17). For any who would say with Pilate, “What is truth?” (John 18:38), there is the definitive answer!

[8/2/2025]

Sin had spread its wings, and covered all things,
that none could discern, of himself, the truth–
Truth came down into the womb,
came forth and rolled away error.
Blessed is He who dispelled sin by His birth!
The type has passed and the truth is come.
Come, ye lambs, receive your seal,
for it is Truth that is your seal!
Ephraim the Syrian; 4th c.; NPNF-II-13; pp253-271.