Paul Valery Quotes

Falsehood has an infinity of combinations, but truth has only one mode of being.

All truth is simple... is that not doubly a lie?

The truth is rarely pure and never simple.

What is simple is wrong, and what is complicated cannot be understood.

Truth is too simple for us: we do not like those who unmask our illusions.

Nothing is true, but that which is simple.

You can't say you want things to be simple and then in the next breath ask me to be honest.

The truth is rarely true and never simple.

When I asked my mother, ‘how do I tell people about you’ her answer was ‘tell the truth’. But of course, the truth is never simple.

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.

Before I had kids, I thought you should never lie to a kid. But now I've had them, I realize you almost lie to them by definition, because if you're trying to summarize something for your 1-year-old, you put it in very simple terms. You only gradually complicate the explanation as they get older.

Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing wrong with this, except that it ain't so.

I am not sincere, even when I say I am not.

We ought to see far enough into a hypocrite to see even his sincerity.

In my latter years I've decided that there's too much to keep track of when you go into the lying game. That becomes stressful and it's not for me anymore.

A harmful truth is better than a useful lie.

The truthful man is usually a liar.

When a contradiction is impossible to resolve except by a lie, then we know that it is really a door.

Sometimes it is necessary to make things clearer than the truth.

I smil'd to my self at the sight of this money, O drug! said I aloud, what art thou good for? Thou art not worth to me, no not the taking off of the ground, one of those knives is worth all this heap, I have no manner of use for thee, e'en remain where thou art, and go to the bottom as a creature whose life is not worth saving. However, upon second thoughts, I took it away.

No. Men should die for lies. But the truth is too precious to die for.

The pure and simple truth Is rarely pure and never simple. What's a boy to do When lies and truth are both sinful?

I don't lie," I lied.

I used to take everything at face value. Because, when I say something, I mean it... so I used to feel that everybody else meant what they said. But of course that wasn't true. And life isn't that sweet and simple.

Like all valuable commodities, truth is often counterfeited.