Georges BatailleI believe that truth has only one face: that of a violent contradiction.
About This Quote
If you consider something to be true, but it doesn’t agree with the feelings of others, then it is not true. This quote uses two different definitions of truth. One definition is the physical truth stated by the words on your hand or on your computer screen. This physical truth is similar to what most people use when they say "I believe" or “I know”.
But there is another definition of truth, which is used in this quote. The second definition of truth says that something is true only if it doesn’t contradict with your feelings. If your feelings are that something is true, then the thing must be true even if others disagree with you.
So, for example, if you think that Hitler was bad and someone else thinks that Hitler was good, they are both right because they have different feelings about Hitler. However, the person with bad feelings about Hitler would never agree with the person who has good feelings about him saying he was great. Therefore, if you feel strongly about something but someone else disagrees with you, then you are right even if there are facts that support their argument against you.
Some Similar Quotes
- Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.
- It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.
- Any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep.
- Art and love are the same thing: It’s the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you.
- There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.