“Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.”
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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: Widely attributed to Gandhi (full form: 'God is, even though the whole world deny him. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.'); no confirmed dated primary located.
About this quote
Popularity is a poor test of what's real. Something can be true while no one backs it, which means the crowd's approval adds nothing to its standing and its silence takes nothing away. The whole weight of this falls on the person who has to hold a verified fact once support disappears.
When to use it
- An engineer's safety warning proves right years later, long after the room dismissed it.
- A whistleblower keeps stating what happened even as colleagues insist nothing did.
- A historian's unfashionable reading of the record is quietly vindicated a decade on.