Edward Mandell House Quotes

We cannot pretend that reality is different from what it is.

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.

I don't want happy-face conclusions. I want the truth.

We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them.

You have to show reality as it is, not as you wish it to be.

Look at the facts as they truly are, not as you want them to be.

Recognize reality even when you don't like it-especially when you don't like it.

The truth does not need to be defended.

Reality isn't the way you wish things to be, nor the way they appear to be, but the way they actually are.

I'm simply trying to tell the truth about human behaviour as I see it.

Things and actions are what they are, and the consequences of them will be what they will be: why then should we desire to be deceived?

The safest words are always those which bring us most directly to facts.

I aim to tell the truth about any subject, not a romance or fantasy, not avoid the truth.

Portray the world for what it is, and you will find truth.

I never see myself as writing satire. I think I write about people as they really are, without making them better or worse.

Become reality driven. Don’t kid yourself or others.

O man, of whatever country you are, and whatever your opinions may be, behold your history, such as I have thought to read it, not in books written by your fellow creatures, who are liars, but in nature, which never lies

It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth …I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

Facts are more mundane than fantasies, but a better basis for conclusions.

We must see conditions as they really are, not as we want them to be.

To govern well, one must see things as they are.

Geese are but Geese tho' we may think 'em Swans; and Truth will be Truth tho' it sometimes prove mortifying and distasteful.

We must face facts. I have made that my guiding principle in office.

Now, what I want is, Facts. . . . Facts alone are wanted in life.

Harsh reality is always better than false hope.