That a lie which is all a lie may be met and fought with outright, But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter to fight.
Interpretation
It is easier to confront a complete lie than to deal with a lie that contains elements of truth.
In this quote, Tennyson emphasizes the complexity of truth and deception, suggesting that a lie intertwined with truth is more insidious and challenging to combat. This duality complicates our understanding of honesty, making it difficult to discern motives and intentions when partial truths are involved.
In practice
In a discussion about ethics, one might reference this quote to explain why integrity is essential.
Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For though from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.
How many a father have I seen, A sober man, among his boys, Whose youth was full of foolish noise.
O Love! what hours were thine and mine, In lands of palm and southern pine; In lands of palm, of orange-blossom, Of olive, aloe, and maize and vine!
Earth is dry to the centre,_x000D_ But spring, a new comer,_x000D_ A spring rich and strange,_x000D_ Shall make the winds blow_x000D_ Round and round,_x000D_ Thro' and thro',_x000D_ Here and there,_x000D_ Till the air_x000D_ And the ground_x000D_ Shall be fill'd with life anew.
O love, O fire! once he drew With one long kiss my whole soul through My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.
But thy strong Hours indignant work’d their wills, And beat me down and marr’d and wasted me, And tho’ they could not end me, left me maim’d To dwell in presence of immortal youth, Immortal age beside immortal youth, And all I was, in ashes. - Tithonus
We do not realise that we are children of eternity. If we did, then success would be no success, and failure would be no failure to us.
Boxing is a celebration of the lost religion of masculinity all the more trenchant for its being lost.
We build buildings based on the false assumption that women go to mosques half as much as they actually do. In fact, the US is the only country in the world where women and men report that they attend the mosque in equal numbers, but our institutions aren't representing this reality.
Public opinion is always more tyrannical towards those who obviously fear it than towards those who feel indifferent to it.
The cross is the surest, truest and deepest window on the very heart and character of the living and loving God.
My heart, to put it more simply, got nostalgic for the present. Always a bad sign.
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