“Truth can hardly convey an idea of the indescribable lustre of Truth, a million times more intense than that of the sun we daily see with our eyes.”
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Probable attribution
This saying is widely associated with Mahatma Gandhi, but the attribution is not supported by a reliable primary source.
Likely origin: Attributed to Gandhi's Autobiography; not verbatim-confirmed against the primary text.
About this quote
Language can only point toward truth, never hold its full brightness. The idea guards against mistaking a tidy formulation for the real thing — even the finest words are a dim lamp beside what they describe, so an honest seeker keeps looking past their own descriptions rather than settling on them.
When to use it
- A physicist admits her elegant equation still only sketches a reality far larger than the math.
- A witness under oath realizes plain facts can't convey what the event actually felt like or meant.
- A teacher warns students that a memorized definition is only a shadow of the thing itself.