Quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes

A new untruth is better than an old truth.

A new untruth is better than an old truth.

Summary

This quote suggests that embracing a new, yet incorrect belief may be more beneficial than clinging to an outdated truth. It implies that a fresh falsehood can potentially lead to growth, exploration, and progress, whereas a longstanding truth may hinder innovation by limiting perspectives and preventing further learning. It underscores the value of questioning accepted knowledge and being open to new ideas, even if they challenge deeply entrenched beliefs. Ultimately, it encourages a willingness to embrace the potential of evolving truths, even if they may initially be unfounded.

Topics

Truth

By Oliver Wendell Holmes

Liked the quote? Share it with your friends.

Random Quotations

I cannot say that the attitude of the United Nations always

I cannot say that the attitude of the United Nations always is for the Israeli attitude. Israel, I think, has been under severe attacks by members of the United Nations many times.

Attitude

When it is a question of God's almighty Spirit, never say, I

When it is a question of God's almighty Spirit, never say, I can't.

Oswald Chambers

Every invalid is a physician.

Every invalid is a physician.

Doctors

I'm so unhappy with electoral politics that I switched to sp

I'm so unhappy with electoral politics that I switched to sports radio.

Bernadine Dohrn

Sports

Any historian of the literature of the modern age will take

Any historian of the literature of the modern age will take virtually for granted the adversary intention, the actually subversive intention, that characterizes modern writing -- he will perceive its clear purpose of detaching the reader from the habits of thought and feeling that the larger culture imposes, of giving him a ground and a vantage point from which to judge and condemn, and perhaps revise, the culture that produces him.

Lionel Trilling

Books

And introduce an element of cynicism and darkness into it an

And introduce an element of cynicism and darkness into it and just realize that we're all vulnerable. We are humans. There is a finite end to this life and we're all going to face it and a little silliness can help.

Life Cynicism Help Theend

Go ye, who rest so placidly upon the sacred Bard who had bee

Go ye, who rest so placidly upon the sacred Bard who had been young, and when he strung his harp was old, and had never seen the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging their bread; go, Teachers of content and honest pride, into the mine, the mill, the forge, the squalid depths of deepest ignorance, and uttermost abyss of man's neglect, and say can any hopeful plant spring up in air so foul that it extinguishes the soul's bright torch as fast as it is kindled!

Charles Dickens

Shakespeare Classics Teachers

Nature gives you the face you have at twenty it is up to you

Nature gives you the face you have at twenty it is up to you to merit the face you have at fifty.

Nature

The art of getting rich consists not in industry, much less

The art of getting rich consists not in industry, much less in saving, but in a better order, in timeliness, in being at the right spot.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Richness

When I was 14, I felt very rundown I had a home to go to, bu

When I was 14, I felt very rundown I had a home to go to, but I felt like I was 60 or something, older than I feel now. And I don't know if it's something that happens at 14, or whether it was adolescence or whether I was gay, or closeted gay, or whatever it was, I felt that.

Home

We don't need to fabricate anything because the truth will m

We don't need to fabricate anything because the truth will make you weep.

Patricia L. Walsh

Truth

Poetry is about the grief. Politics is about the grievance.

Poetry is about the grief. Politics is about the grievance.

Politics Poetry