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There is truth and then again there is truth. For all that the world is full of people who go around believing they've got you or your neighbor figured out, there really is no bottom to what is not known. The truth about us is endless. As are the lies.

— Philip Roth The Human Stain (2000)

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Truth

More quotes by Philip Roth

Is an intelligent human being likely to be much more than a large-scale manufacturer of misunderstanding?

The Counterlife (1986)

The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.

I am a theater and nothing more than a theater.

The Counterlife (1986)

I write fiction and I’m told it’s autobiography, I write autobiography and I’m told it’s fiction, so since I’m so dim and they’re so smart, let them decide what it is or it isn’t.

Deception: A Novel (1990)

When you publish a book, it’s the world’s book. The world edits it.

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False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

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I believe in evil. It is the property of all those who are certain of truth. Despair and fanaticism are only differing manifestations of evil.

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Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.

Ulysses S. Grant Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant (1885)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Philip Roth (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.