Skip to content

If I held all of truth in my hand I would beware of opening it to men.

— Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle

Si je tenais toutes les vérités dans ma main, je me donnerais bien de garde de l'ouvrir aux hommes.

Original text (French)

Another quote →

Topics

Truth

More quotes by Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle

Astronomy is the daughter of idleness, geometry is the daughter of interest.

We can never add more truth to what is true already, nor make that true which is false.

The History of Oracles, and the Cheats of the Pagan Priests (1688)

It is more reasonable to remove error from truth, than to venerate error because it is mix'd with truth.

The History of Oracles, and the Cheats of the Pagan Priests (1688)

Behold a universe so immense that I am lost in it. I no longer know where I am. I am just nothing at all. Our world is terrifying in its insignificance.

The Epicureans especially made sport with the paltry Poetry that came from Delphos.

The History of Oracles, and the Cheats of the Pagan Priests (1688)

All Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle quotes →

You may also like

You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can't lead to a good conclusion.

Julian Assange

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

Socrates

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.

Edward Teller

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: Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.