'It was as true,'said Mr Barkis,'†as taxes is. And nothing's truer than them.'

-Dickens, CharlesJohn Huffam
^50  David Copperfield, ch.21.

The bow was made in England, Of true wood, of yew wood, The wood of English bows.

-Doyle, SirArthur Conan
The White Company,'Song of the Bow'.

Every true work of art must express a distinct feeling.

-Friedrich, Caspar David
Quoted in William Vaughn Romantic  Art (1978).

Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.

-Golding, Sir William (Gerald)
  Lord of the Flies, ch.12.

No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.

-Hawthorne, Nathaniel
  The Scarlet Letter, ch.20.

Louers be war and tak gude heid about Quhome that ye lufe, for quhome ye suffer paine. I lat yow wit, thair is richt few thairout Quhome ye may traist to haue trew lufe agane.

-Henryson, Robert
c.1470  The Testament of Cresseid, l.561^4.

It is no good saying we [journalists] must report only what is true because what is true cannot always be proven.

-Humphrys,John
  In the Sunday Times, 8 Feb.

Change proves true on the day it is finished.

-I Ching   c.2000
c.2000  BC  I Ching, no.49 (translated by Thomas Cleary).

Who fears to speak of Ninety-Eight? Who blushes at the name? When cowards mock the patriot's fate, Who hangs his head for shame? He's all a knave or half a slave Who slights his country thus: But a true man, like you, man, Will fill your glass with us.

-Ingram,John Kells
  The Spirit of the Nation,'The Memory of the Dead'.

I thought that writing a detective story would be a wonderful apprenticeship because, whatever people tell you, a crime novel is not easy to write well. As I continued with my craft I became increasingly fascinated by the form and realized that you can use the formula to say something true about men and women and the society in which they live.

-Baroness
  'Series Detectives', collected in Brown and Munro (eds) Writers Writing (1993).

First, you know, a new theory is attacked as absurd; then it is admitted to be true, but obvious and insignificant; finally it is seen to be so important that its adversaries claim that they themselves discovered it.

-James,William
  Pragmatism, lecture 6.

'The true'to put it very briefly, is only the expedient in the way of our thinking, just as 'the right' is only the expedient in the way of our behaving.

-James,William
  Pragmatism, lecture 6.

That all who are happy, are equally happy, is not true. A peasant and a philosopher may be equally satisfied, but not equally happy. Happiness consists in the multiplicity of agreeable consciousness.

-Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson
  Remark, Feb. Quoted in  James Boswell  The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), vol.2.

Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.

-Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson
  Letter to Francesco Sastres, 21  Aug. Quoted in  James Boswell The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), vol.4.

   It istruethat sinisthe cause of all thispain; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

-Julian of Norwich known as LadyJulian
^c.1393  Revelations of Divine Love, ch.27.

The highest duty of the writer, the composer, the artist is to remain true to himself† In serving his vision of the truth, the artist best serves his nation.

-Kennedy,John F(itzgerald)
   At the dedication of  Amherst College Robert Frost Library, 25 Oct.

That sure extinction that we travel to And shall be lost in always. Not to be here, Not to be anywhere, And soon; nothing more terrible, nothing more true.

-Larkin, Philip Arthur
  'Aubade'.

The pellet with the poison's in the chalice from the palace The flagon with the dragon has the brew that is true.

-Panama, Norman and Frank, Melvin
  Lines delivered by Danny Kaye in The CourtJester.

La vraie e¤  loquence se moque de l'e¤  loquence, la vraie morale se moque de la morale. True eloquence has no time foreloquence, true morality has no time for morality.

-Pascal, Blaise
c.1654^1662  Pense¤  es, no.4 (translated byA Krailsheimer).

One geometry can not be more true than another; it can only be more convenient.Geometry is not true, it is advantageous.

-Pirsig, Robert M(aynard)
  Zen and theArt of Motorcycle Maintenance, pt.3, ch.22.