#ruth

The single best thing about coming out of the closet is that nobody can insult you by telling you what you've just told them. ↗

— Rachel Maddow

#commentary #gay #honesty #lesbian #lgbt

I ate civilization. It poisoned me; I was defiled. And then," he added in a lower tone, "I ate my own wickedness. ↗

— Aldous Huxley

#civilization

On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right? There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right. ↗

— Martin Luther King Jr.

#questions

The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than ten thousand truths. ↗

— Anton Chekhov

#truth #short-story

A great writer reveals the truth even when he or she does not wish to. ↗

— Tom Bissell

#writers #writing #writer

...the heart is an organ of fire. ↗

— Michael Ondaatje

#english

The tongue can conceal the truth, but the eyes never! You're asked an unexpected question, you don't even flinch, it takes just a second to get yourself under control, you know just what you have to say to hide the truth, and you speak very convincingly, and nothing in your face twitches to give you away. But the truth, alas, has been disturbed by the question, and it rises up from the depths of your soul to flicker in your eyes and all is lost. ↗

— Mikhail Bulgakov

#unexpected

It is difficult to see ourselves as we are. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to have good friends, lovers or others who will do us the good service of telling us the truth about ourselves. When we don't, we can so easily delude ourselves, lose a sense of truth about ourselves, and our conscience loses power and purpose. Mostly, we tell ourselves what we would like to hear. We lose our way. ↗

— Jon Katz

#truth #conscience

The perfect killer has no conscience. ↗

— Brent Weeks

#conscience

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. ↗

— John F. Kennedy

#alien #american #american people #competitive #entrust