--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When a great truth gets abroad in the…" description: "\"“When a great truth gets abroad in the world, no power on earth can imprison it, or prescribe its limits, or suppress it. She could see an orchestra in..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/996/colum-mccann-902_nature_when-a-great-truth-gets-abroad-in-the-wo_2468765.png" --- # When a great truth gets abroad in the world, no power on… ![“When a great truth gets abroad in the world, no power on earth can imprison it, or prescribe its limits, or suppress it. She could see an orchestra in him, a whole range of instruments and sound. His voice was loud and booming. It is bound to go on until it becomes the thought of the world.” quote by Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/996/colum-mccann-902_nature_when-a-great-truth-gets-abroad-in-the-wo_2468765.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/996/colum-mccann-902_nature_when-a-great-truth-gets-abroad-in-the-wo_2468765.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/996/colum-mccann-902_nature_when-a-great-truth-gets-abroad-in-the-wo_2468765.png) > ““When a great truth gets abroad in the world, no power on earth can imprison it, or prescribe its limits, or suppress it. She could see an orchestra in him, a whole range of instruments and sound. His voice was loud and booming. It is bound to go on until it becomes the thought of the world.”” [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Truth spreads unstoppable, eventually becoming the dominant idea worldwide. **In simple terms:** Truth cannot be contained; it spreads. Key Takeaway Share truth boldly and persistently. Themes truth freedom communication Mood hopeful determined Type political philosophical When to use this quote - activism - journalism - education - social media Key Concepts information flow social influence cultural change Questions to Reflect On - What strategies help truth survive censorship? - How do you contribute to spreading important ideas? A Different Perspective Oppressive regimes may suppress truth temporarily. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Great Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-truth/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Thought World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thought-world-337873/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Truth Gets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth-gets-332848/) [World power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-power/) ## Related quotes > [When a great truth once gets abroad in the world, no power on earth can imprison it, or prescribe its limits, or suppress it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/when-a-great-truth-once-gets-abroad-in-the-world-no-power-on-earth/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [This is a fallen world. People lie, the truth gets distorted, and that's the way it is. What's for dinner ?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-leon/this-is-a-fallen-world-people-lie-the-truth-gets-distorted-and-that-s/) [Donna Leon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-leon/) > [A myth is a lie that conceals or reveals a truth. But if it reveals even a strand of history or truth, that's what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashwin-sanghi/a-myth-is-a-lie-that-conceals-or-reveals-a-truth-but-if-it-reveals/) [Ashwin Sanghi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashwin-sanghi/) > [Truth gets well if she is run over by a locomotive, while error dies of lockjaw if she scratches her finger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-c-bryant/truth-gets-well-if-she-is-run-over-by-a-locomotive-while-error-dies/) [William C. Bryant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-c-bryant/) > [Truth gets buried, that's why people write autobiographies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elia-kazan/truth-gets-buried-that-s-why-people-write-autobiographies/) [Elia Kazan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elia-kazan/) > [I think I got the ability to speak the truth, and that gets in peoples' heads.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-hopkins/i-think-i-got-the-ability-to-speak-the-truth-and-that-gets-in-peoples/) [Bernard Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-hopkins/) > [“It takes the truth to gets everyone's trust”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/k-c-tshwaane/it-takes-the-truth-to-gets-everyone-s-trust/) [K.C Tshwaane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/k-c-tshwaane/) > [“Historians rewrite the truth every day. 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Maybe the day after, but not in the long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-spurrier/i-don-t-think-telling-the-truth-ever-gets-anyone-in-trouble-in-the/) [Steve Spurrier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-spurrier/) > [“The naked truth gets you naked.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tamerlan-kuzgov/the-naked-truth-gets-you-naked/) [Tamerlan Kuzgov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tamerlan-kuzgov/) > [I am all and nothing; I am not a mere thought, but at the same time I am full of thoughts, a thought-world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-stirner/i-am-all-and-nothing-i-am-not-a-mere-thought-but-at-the-same-time-i/) [Max Stirner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-stirner/) > [“Is that so?” he asked. “I’d always thought the world was a wish-granting factory.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/is-that-so-he-asked-i-d-always-thought-the-world-was-a-wish-granting/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) ## More by Colum McCann > [Give life long enough and it will solve all your problems, including the one of being alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/give-life-long-enough-and-it-will-solve-all-your-problems-including/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“There is something that happens to the mind in moments of terror. Perhaps we figure it's the last we'll ever have and we record…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/there-is-something-that-happens-to-the-mind-in-moments-of-terror/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“The short sharp shock of three thousand mother two hundred mothers. The ones who picked through the supermarket debris for pieces of their dead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/the-short-sharp-shock-of-three-thousand-mother-two-hundred-mothers/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [I'm not so sure that I can teach people how to, you know, write dialogue or create plot or anything like that. But if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/i-m-not-so-sure-that-i-can-teach-people-how-to-you-know-write/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“Once we had filled each other with desire, not remembrance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/once-we-had-filled-each-other-with-desire-not-remembrance/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“How long ago it was and how strange, but all dead friends come to life again sometimes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/how-long-ago-it-was-and-how-strange-but-all-dead-friends-come-to-life/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“She would want, instead, to recall him in the air, between layers of cloud. 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The real is imagined, in the sense that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/i-m-of-the-opinion-that-the-real-is-imagined-and-the-imagined-is/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“She had that emigrant’s sadness—she would never go back to her old country—it was gone in more senses than one—but she was forever gazing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/she-had-that-emigrant-s-sadness-she-would-never-go-back-to-her-old/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) [Explore all 333 Colum McCann quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) ## More Nature quotes > [It is indeed a surprising and fortunate fact that nature can be expressed by relatively low-order mathematical functions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-carnap/it-is-indeed-a-surprising-and-fortunate-fact-that-nature-can-be/) [Rudolf Carnap](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-carnap/) > [Remember that your natural state is joy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-dyer/remember-that-your-natural-state-is-joy/) [Wayne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-dyer/) > [“THIS tale of my sore-troubled life I write,    To thank the God of nature, who conveyed    My soul to me, and with such care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-tale-of-my-sore-troubled-life-i-write-to-thank-the-god-of-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Put on my J's and dance the whole night away Im naughty by nature like Im hip-hop hooray With my hands in the sky,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/put-on-my-j-s-and-dance-the-whole-night-away-im-naughty-by-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Borrow trouble for yourself, if that's your nature, but don't lend it to your neighbours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudyard-kipling/borrow-trouble-for-yourself-if-that-s-your-nature-but-don-t-lend-it/) [Rudyard Kipling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudyard-kipling/) > [There is no human nature, since there is no god to conceive it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/there-is-no-human-nature-since-there-is-no-god-to-conceive-it/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [“Men mistook measurement for understanding. And they always had to put themselves at the center of everything. That was their greatest conceit. The earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-harris/men-mistook-measurement-for-understanding-and-they-always-had-to-put/) [Robert Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-harris/) > [“She was, he knew- and had known very early, he supposed- one of those rare and always lovely humans whose moral nature was so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-williams/she-was-he-knew-and-had-known-very-early-he-supposed-one-of-those/) [John Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-williams/) > [“When the water covers the earth the sun will vanish the darkess and the cold will come.When the last dragon and the last Elf…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/silvana-de-mari/when-the-water-covers-the-earth-the-sun-will-vanish-the-darkess-and/) [Silvana de Mari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/silvana-de-mari/) > [Well, The Day the Earth Caught Fire was a story... 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