Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- First gather facts, then you are free to distort them as you wish.
- In plain terms
- Get the facts, then you can twist them however you like.
- What can you take from it?
- Understanding facts gives power to manipulate narratives.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Why do people distort facts after learning them?
- What are the ethical limits?
Another view
Distorting facts erodes trust and credibility.
More from Samuel Langhorne Clemens
I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want.
Permalink to quote #140 In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination.
Permalink to quote #142 If you would have your fiction live forever, you must neither overtly preach nor overtly teach; but you must covertly preach and covertly teach.
Permalink to quote #139
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