“ To tell the truth is useful to those to whom it is spoken, but disadvantageous to those who tell it, because it makes them disliked. ”
Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1670). copy citation
| Author | Blaise Pascal |
|---|---|
| Source | Pensées |
| Topic | truth |
| Date | 1670 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by W. F. Trotter |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18269/18269-h/18269-h.htm |
Context
“So each degree of good fortune which raises us in the world removes us farther from truth, because we are most afraid of wounding those whose affection is most useful and whose dislike is most dangerous. A prince may be the byword of all Europe, and he alone will know nothing of it. I am not astonished. To tell the truth is useful to those to whom it is spoken, but disadvantageous to those who tell it, because it makes them disliked. Now those who live with princes love their own interests more than that of the prince whom they serve; and so they take care not to confer on him a benefit so as to injure themselves.
This evil is no doubt greater and more common among the higher classes;”
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