Donella Meadows Quotes

No lying knight or lying priest ever prospered in any age, but especially not in the dark ones. Men prospered then only in following an openly declared purpose, and preaching candidly beloved and trusted creeds.

There is no power on earth more formidable than the truth.

There is obviously a power and a truth in action that doesn't lie, which words easily can do.

At the end of the day, I believe truth is stronger than any lie that's out there.

Plain truth, backed up by neither power or money, has no chance.

I don't want to lie. Always, I want to be honest and I sayI, don't think about tomorrow. I don't think about next season.'

The virtuous will be sure to speak uprightly; but those whose speech is upright may not be virtuous.

Honesty was a tough customer... Once you started allowing yourself some honesty, it couldn't easily be contained or limited to one part of your life. It was like poison ivy or a bossy houseguest. Once it was there, you couldn't tell it what to do. You had to really fight to keep it from taking over.

Love people enough to tell them the truth and respect them enough to trust that they can handle it.

Perhaps no one as yet has been truthful enough about what "truthfulness" is.

For there is a virtue in truth; it has an almost mystic power. Like radium, it seems to give off forever and ever grains of energy, atoms of light.

What is becoming is honest, and whatever is honest must always be becoming.

Truth is a risky proposition. It's the nature of mediocre human beings to believe that lies are necessary, that they serve a purpose, that truth is subversive, that candor is dangerous, that the very scaffold of communal life is supported by lies.

I'm going to speak the truth when I'm asked about it. This isn't for look. This isn't for publicity or anything like that. This is for people that don't have the voice.

And when you say the truth you get stronger.

I want people to be sincere; a man of honor shouldn't speak a single word that doesn't come straight from his heart.

I cannot say something different to one person and then another.

Truth is the shortest and nearest way to our end, carrying us thither in a straight line.

Lying is too much trouble. You have to make sure to taste each word before letting it off your tongue. I hate that. It's hard enough making people understand without lying.

I have always had such sincere love for truth, that I have often begun by telling stories for the purpose of getting truth to enter the heads of those who could not appreciate its charms.

Try to remain truthful. The power of truth never declines. Force and violence may be effective in the short term, but in the long run it's truth that prevails.

I scream, you scream, we all scream... for the truth.

Before speaking, consult your inner-truth barometer, and resist the temptation to tell people only what they want to hear.

it is not enough to speak, but to speak truee