Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Friendship is valued, but truth is valued even more.
In plain terms
Loyalty is good, but truth is better.
What can you take from it?
Prioritize truth over loyalty.

Where it applies

  • conflicting interests
  • research
  • personal debates

Putting it to work

  • tell hard truths
  • choose facts over feelings
  • respect evidence

Questions to consider

  • Would you tell a painful truth to a friend?
  • Is honesty always the best policy?

Another view

Being too blunt in the name of truth can damage relationships.

More from Aristotle

  1. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

    Permalink to quote #171
  2. 'We live in deeds, not years: In thoughts not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives Who thinks mo…

    Permalink to quote #173
  3. The greatest crimes are not those committed for the sake of necessity but those committed for the sake of superfluity. One does not become a tyrant to avoid ex…

    Permalink to quote #170

Related quotes

  1. Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.

    AristotleAristotle quote #42
  2. Yet this inconstancy is such As you too shall adore; I could not love thee, dear, so much, Loved I not honor more.

    Richard LovelaceRichard Lovelace quote #6
  3. I meant what I said, and I said what I meant An elephant's faithful, One hundred percent.

    Dr. SeussDr. Seuss quote #8