Truth is most often used to mean in accord with fact or reality or fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal.
The opposite of truth is falsehood, which, correspondingly, can also take on a logical, factual, or ethical meaning. The concept of truth is discussed and debated in several contexts, including philosophy and religion. Many human activities depend upon the concept, which is assumed rather than a subject of discussion, including science, law, and everyday life.
Various theories and views of truth continue to be debated among scholars and philosophers. Language and words are a means by which humans convey information to one another and the method used to recognize a "truth" is termed a criterion of truth. There are differing claims on such questions as what constitutes truth: what things are truthbearers capable of being true or false; how to define and identify truth; the roles that revealed and acquired knowledge play; and whether truth is subjective or objective, relative or absolute.
Many religions consider perfect knowledge of all truth about all things (omniscience) to be an attribute of a divine or supernatural being.
Read more about Truth: Nomenclature, Orthography, and Etymology, Major Theories of Truth, In Medicine and Psychiatry, In Religion: Omniscience
Famous quotes containing the word truth:
“Truth and kindness in sweet embrace,
Righteousness and peace are God’s grace;
For truth out of the earth does spring,
And righteousness from heaven ring.”
—Faye T. Bresler (b. 1959)
“We would be a lot safer if the Government would take its money out of science and put it into astrology and the reading of palms.... Only in superstition is there hope. If you want to become a friend of civilization, then become an enemy of the truth and a fanatic for harmless balderdash.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)
“And the truth wailing there like a red babe.”
—Richard Eberhart (b. 1904)