# Newsletters > Balthasar Gracian's The Art of Worldly Wisdom >  Aphorism #181 The Truth, but not the whole Truth.

## Admin

Aphorism #181 The Truth, but not the whole Truth.

Nothing demands more caution than the truth: 

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## manuscript

i am mesmerised by the word "truth" like some beautiful diamond that came from the blood of a slave.

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## Monach Star

What lies behind the truth of General Petraeus' actions?

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## cafolini

> Aphorism #181 The Truth, but not the whole Truth.
> 
> Nothing demands more caution than the truth: 
> 
> More...


Gracian is one of the two great ones of the Barroque. The other one is his complement, Quevedo. The Spaniards introduced Gongora to cloud the issues as they usually did as Roman Catholics. But they failed miserably. They also threatened Gracian, who decided to adapt to the circunstances and overcame then within their own forced parameters.

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## cacian

> i am mesmerised by the word "truth" like some beautiful diamond that came from the blood of a slave.


Well I think what the word TRUTH is suggesting is that there is a lie somewhere.
And so to everything we do or say we are bombarded with the word truth because ulterior motives are not clear or are simply doubted.
What is this indicate is a lack of logic and understanding of how generally things are.
For example scientists tend to speak in the conditional for example

''It would this long for something to do this or that.''
The expression
IT WOULD
has that element of 'doubt' could well indicate that it is a possibility that might never happen hence the conditional.

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