Truth

“From the truest truth to the falsest falsehood, there is often only one step. It has often been noted, quite rightly. But from the noting of that fact to the condemning of certain truths, as being dangerously near falsehood, there is also one step, and that step as well is often taken, this time very wrongly.

The fear of falling a prey to error must never prevent us from getting to the full truth. To overstep the limit, to go beyond, would be to err through excessive daring; but there are also errors of timidity which consist precisely in stopping short, never daring to go any farther than half-truths.

Love of truth never goes without daring. And that is one of the reasons why truth is not loved.”

†

“... We always push on farther, that is very true. We draw new inferences, make new and more subtle distinctions, ‘get closer to the problem’. We make additions, improvements, achieve greater nicety, a higher degree of perfection. ... By what miracle does it happen that in reality no progress is made? How is it that on the contrary we stick in the mud?—Because there is no real progress without some bringing up of matters afresh or some change of perspective, some break or some turning back, a resumption of contact with the ground of the original data. ... Progress of the spirit does not consist in prolonging but in renewing.

Every real thinker has something naïve about him. All powerful thought has something simple and new about it. Something is passed on, but something as well begins anew with it.”

~Henri de Lubac