Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.
Truth
Truth like a torch, the more it’s shook, it shines.
—Anonymous
Truth and falsehood … are like the iron and clay in the toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image, they may cleave, but they will not incorporate.
—Francis Bacon
Moral truths, like human beings, change their aspect according to their surroundings, to the point of being unrecognizable.
—Honoré de Balzac
Truth, like the sun, submits to be obscured; but, like the sun, only for a time.
—C. N. Bovée
Catch truth and wisdom unawares,
As men do health in wholesome airs.
—Samuel Butler
The use of truth is like the use of words; both truth and words depend greatly upon custom.
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
Truth, like the juice of a poppy, in small quantities, calms men; in large, heats and irritates them, and is attended by fatal circulation, because men have discovered that it is far more inconvenient to adulterate the truth than to refine themselves.
—C. C. Colton
He who will tell the truth appears at times like a hen on a perch in windy weather.
—Olof von Dalin
Truth itself is sometimes like a ruddy apple which requires to be cut in halves before we can tell which portion contains the worm.
—Francis Grierson
Truth, like beauty, varies in its fashions, and is best recommended by different dresses to different minds.
—Dr. Samuel Johnson
The advent of truth, like the dawn of day, agitates the elements, while it disperses the gloom.
—Elias L. Magoon
Truth … shines like the sun, and like the sun it cannot perish.
—Napoleon
Truth, like a single point, escapes the sight,
And claims attention to perceive it right.
—John Pomfret
Truth that has been merely learned is like an artificial limb, a false tooth, a waxen nose; at best, like a nose made out of another’s flesh; it adheres to us only because it is put on.
—Arthur S. Schopenhauer