# Truth is only to be had by the lying together...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-is-only-to-be-had-by-the-lying-together/55697>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 24, 2001, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-is-only-to-be-had-by-the-lying-together/55697 "2001-02-24T05:47:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dr.Pinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dr.Pinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Pinky)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2001, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-is-only-to-be-had-by-the-lying-together/55697/1 "2001-02-24T05:47:32Z")

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…of a variety of errors. Who said it? Nietzche? Blake? Martha Stewart? My searches so far have been fruitless (probably because I’ve mangled the actual quotation.)

Ring any bells?

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**Author:** ![Dr.Pinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dr.Pinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Pinky)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2001, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-is-only-to-be-had-by-the-lying-together/55697/2 "2001-02-24T16:39:10Z")

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Quasimodo? Susan Sontag? Linus Pauling? Gypsy Rose Lee? Marvin the Wonder Wart Hog?

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2001, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-is-only-to-be-had-by-the-lying-together/55697/3 "2001-02-24T16:55:13Z")

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I did poke around a bit, and found one suggestion that it might be Virginia Woolf, but I couldn’t confirm it:

[http://www.always.on.ca/mayo.html](http://www.always.on.ca/mayo.html)

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**Author:** ![dr\_hermes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@dr\_hermes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dr_hermes)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2001, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-is-only-to-be-had-by-the-lying-together/55697/4 "2001-02-24T16:57:54Z")

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Wonder Wart Hog’s name was Philbert Desanex, not Marvin. The noble beast is not recorded as having said this.

```
The quote does not ring true, somehow. "Truth arrives in the succession of mistakes we make' maybe.
```