John Gilmore Quote 

"Truth: the most deadly weapon ever discovered by humanity.
Capable of destroying entire perceptual sets, cultures, and realities.
Outlawed by all governments everywhere.
Possession is normally punishable by death."

by:
John Gilmore
(1935- ) Author
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 -- Anonymous 
 -- Anonymous 
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell
 -- Lazzi Mann, Windward Oahu		 
lol, I like it
 -- Mike, Norwalk		 
The wisest thing that there is, is time. Because it eventually reveales all truths, no matter how well concealed they are beleived to be. If, therefor, government never wants to suffer the embarrassment of being exposed in time, just be truthful. Then they will have the respect, love and adoration of the people.
 -- Ken, Milford Pa		 
PS. I have a reply to the Solzhenitsyn Quote 73B6. Please observe.
 -- Ken, Milford Pa		 
Depends on what your definition of "truth" is. We now are told that truth is what ever you want it to be. Each person has their own personal "truth". That is why the most honest are accused of being liars and liars are deemed 'Honest". In our culture as in any communist culture truth is what ever advances socialism or as the soviets taught, what ever supports communism is the truth.
 -- warren, olathe		 
Five for humor - when we are gone truth still exists, when man no longer treads this earth he shall still exist - how we shape both truth and man are the same, and correspondingly is time. We look for truth as if it belongs to some distant plane, some distant time, and some distant belief - yet there it is in all its pure splendor waiting for the sculptors chisel. Man is so arrogant that substance can only be his and thinks all is gone when we are gone - if man did not exist two plus two would still be four - Plato was right. It is unfair to say that truth is there for all to see - it is only there for those who are able to seet. Most are blinded by religious dogma, avarice, ignorance, and political agendas. Truth can unleash the dogs of war and be as delicate as a snow flake - the choice is yours.
 -- RobertSRQ		 
As to truth, you won't get much from inside the beltway.
 -- jim k, austin		 
Sometimes on rare occasions government speaks truth and it is ignored due to inconvenience. Who of us could grasp the truth in the early '60's that "we will land a man on the moon in this decade" or the new truth that we can power are electric needs with solar and wind power. Many truths are like bridges you can't know them until you get there. If only we could know them in advance what a world we would have. I give it a thumbs down because just this morning I read that the US Gov. is sponsoring the search for truth in the area of thermoelectrics to capture the heat energy of auto exhaust. So the outlawed by government remark is a bombastic lie.
 -- Waffler, Smith, Arkansas		 
Robert I think you may be wrong about two plus two equaling four. I have been led to believe that mathematics is a language for human understanding. If man seizes to exist so does his languages, including the mathematics one, and mental processes. Again I may be wrong.
 -- Waffler, Smith, Arkansas		 
Part of what is wrong with this country is personal opinion has taken the place of truth. Just because someone says they have truth, and they can do so by redefining the word or saying it is their truth, doesn't make it so. God either exists or he does not, it doesn't matter what any one of us say, reason, measure, compare, define, think or hold as our personal truth. It is true that freedom, liberty, and justice all exist and there is an opposition to that in lies. The government will not allow the truth of history to be portrayed thus eliminating the truth that was once the Constitution. The lawful truth of the Constitution is no longer in force. Opinion, redefinition, personal prejudice and ignorance are all in force. There are true laws (physics, by the God of Nature, etc.) to be discovered and implemented to set men free - anything other than that is a lie.
 -- Mike, Norwalk		 
Numbers are symbolic, as are words, of more complex meanings -- this is the whole "if a tree falls in the woods, and no one was around to hear it, did it make a sound" thing -- yes, the tree made "sound" waves, but these are interpreted differently by each creature (even if by "nature" itself). Whether you define something by "one" (english), "ek" (Hindi), "uno" (Spanish), "un" (French), etc. -- the concept is still the same. When a Tiger chases its prey, it, even at a basic level, understands the concept of numbers as it chooses the weakest of the herd or between two separating animals that run in two opposite directions -- the tiger will have to divide its attention and chose "one" to follow. It's a philosophical quandary to ask what came first: language or thought. Gravity exists and its existence is felt on every creation of this earth, regardless of whether any individual, creation, majority, or government says otherwise. The definition that we have affixed to the sound/word "gravity" may be changed to mean something differently (thereby changing people's perception/life-experience as to understanding clearly what "gravity" was meant to mean). Should this be done, however, the force that pulls us to Earth would keep on keepin' on -- it would not change, simple because we ignored it or redefined the term that was originally/honestly purported to define things for "how they are". Natural law exists independently in truth, and is up to the interpretation of man (as the only creation/creature who has the complex ability of reason, logic, and rhetoric) to figure this out. Each generation will reinvent how they will apply, adhere, or be honest to "how things actually are" -- but the wise generation will take that long and hard look to those who came before to see the mistakes, successes, and "truths" that worked to move forward to future freedom, liberty, and personally accountability/responsibility.
 -- Logan, Memphis, TN		 
Man with his imperfect nature can only perceive a shadow of ultimate truth. All truth that man deals with is only an approximation of reality. That does not mean there is not Truth, but only that we do not have the capability to see it with the senses that we have. It is our purpose to continue to seek the ultimate Truth even though we may never fully comprehend it. The story of Moses on Sinai being giving the ten commandments is an allegory of this. Moses in his imperfection could not look at the face of God (ultimate Truth) and would die if he did but he was given an imperfect truth in the tablets of the ten commandments. Relativists would have us believe there is no ultimate truth and that we each create our own reality; our own right and wrong. They have simply given up seeking for truth either because they don't want to expend the effort or they know truth would conflict with their desires.
 -- Ken, Allyn, WA		 
Truth is power. Those who speak it endanger all those who cling to falsity. That is why those with power attempt to monopolize truth and encapsulate it into their political/ecclesiastical structures in order to nullify all other possibilities and thereby 'rule' as the absolute authority. Truth can stand on its own -- it requires no temples to prop it up. Possibilities are not truths, but based on the theories of 'truth.' Electricity exists (it existed before man discovered it) therefore flying to the moon on a thunderbolt is a 'possibility.' Learning to make the distinction between truth and opinions, hopes, desires, etc. is liberation from the bonds of falsehood. Those that wish to control us simply cannot allow that.
 -- E Archer, NYC		 
Well said, Mike. The educated scholars of political science, philosophy, economics, and sociology have no problems with admitting that definitions of terms within each field have changed -- within the last few decades, let alone over the last century. The problem is that when you redefine a term, what term do you use to describe the old definition and idea? Unless you find a way to define the old understanding, such learning and thought is often lost to time. Sadly, this is commonplace with many institutions of learning -- as students nowadays no longer wish to learn "how" to think, but only to know "what" to think to pass the professor's test. When society's goal is to make money, and not to learn the ideas, language, and understandings of history -- terms are easily redefined to justify/fit current sophistries. In such a system, you end up with the Logan's and Waffler's of society who argue semantics between origins of words, meanings, ideas, philosophies, and understandings; one argues the newly defined terms (Waffler) and one argues the original terms as constituted by the founders (Logan). Neither is "good" or "bad" -- but such establishes the battlegrounds for months of debate.
 -- Logan, Memphis, TN		 
Good Logan but I am not sure that I side with the "newly defined" terms. I have felt that the difference in many folks political outlook (and between the political parties) is primarily their tendency to accept change or new ways of doing things.
 -- Waffler, Smith, Arkansas		 
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