John Hodgman Quotes

When it comes to snowing people, one effective technique is to get a whole bunch of verifiable facts right and then add one or two that are untrue.

Now that he has disavowed as outright lies many of the stories he told himself, it's hard to know what to make of those who still insist that David Brock had it right the first time.

If the reporter has killed our imagination with his truth, he threatens our life with his lies.

As I've said, I've been advised not to get into the specifics out there. Is there some truth out there? Yes. Is there a lot of falsehood out there? Absolutely.

Get the facts, or the facts will get you. And when you get them, get them right, or they will get you wrong.

[In a political debate:] I'm afraid those are facts that are not facts.

Accusations fit on a bumper sticker. The truth is longer.

Dishonesty is Trump's hallmark: He claimed that he had spoken clearly and boldly against going into Iraq. Wrong. He spoke in favor of invading Iraq. He said he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating 9/11. Wrong. He saw no such thing. He imagined it.

When there are falsehoods and ludicrous statements made at briefings, we've got to call that out.

The best way to compile inaccurate information that no one wants is to make it up.

A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

There is no lie that a man will not believe; and there is no man who does not believe many lies; and there is no man who believes only lies.

Partial truths or half-truths are often more insidious than total falsehoods.

One of the problems with the Internet is that a lot of times it is inaccurate.

I have one major problem with the Internet: It's full of liars.

When I was younger, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do, but I told a lot of lies in school. I told my friends once that I was playing John Travolta's daughter in a movie. I also told people that I had this romantic affair with Jonathan Taylor Thomas over a summer.

If enough things that are untrue are said about you, no one will know what really is true.

Truth exists; only lies are invented.

Errors, to be dangerous, must have a great deal of truth mingled with them. It is only from this alliance that they can ever obtain an extensive circulation.

In the world of the Internet, there are many falsehoods. Anyone can write stuff on Wikipedia, and it doesn't have to be true.

In politics, not all lies are all lies. And not all truths are complete.

Good lies need a leavening of truth to make them palatable.

The very hirelings of the press, whose trade it is to buoy up the spirits of the people. have uttered falsehoods so long, they have played off so many tricks, that their budget seems, at last, to be quite empty.

Whoever attacks the popular falsehoods of his time will find that a lie defends itself by telling other lies. Nothing is so prolific, nothing can so multiply itself, nothing can lay and hatch as many eggs, as a good, healthy, lie.

When you are responsible for telling the truth, you must take the time to find out what the truth is…. To find out the truth takes weeks. It takes only 5 minutes for a wrong message to travel around the entire globe.