--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sometimes we have to change the truth in…" description: "\"Sometimes we have to change the truth in order to remember it.\" — George Santayana" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/440/george-santayana-478_change_sometimes-we-have-to-change-the-truth-in_2665937.png" --- # Sometimes we have to change the truth in order to remember… ![“Sometimes we have to change the truth in order to remember it.” quote by George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/440/george-santayana-478_change_sometimes-we-have-to-change-the-truth-in_2665937.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/440/george-santayana-478_change_sometimes-we-have-to-change-the-truth-in_2665937.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/440/george-santayana-478_change_sometimes-we-have-to-change-the-truth-in_2665937.png) > “Sometimes we have to change the truth in order to remember it.” [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Truth may be altered to preserve memory. **In simple terms:** Truth is reshaped to remember. Key Takeaway Question the accuracy of recalled truth. Themes philosophy memory truth Mood reflective philosophical Type critical inquisitive When to use this quote - education - history research - therapy Key Concepts historical revision personal narratives cognitive bias Questions to Reflect On - How does changing truth affect identity? - Can we trust our memories? A Different Perspective Memory distortion can mislead societies. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Change](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/change/) [Change Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/change-truth-356908/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) [Remember](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remember/) [Sometimes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sometimes/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Truth Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth-order-2464645/) ## Related quotes > [You have to notice the truth in order to be able to avoid it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-schulman/you-have-to-notice-the-truth-in-order-to-be-able-to-avoid-it/) [Sarah Schulman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-schulman/) > [All religions segregate also...every religion asserts an order of truth and every other order is regarded as a lie.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-j-rushdoony/all-religions-segregate-also-every-religion-asserts-an-order-of-truth/) [R.J. Rushdoony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-j-rushdoony/) > [“We have truth in order not to die of art. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-aylett/we-have-truth-in-order-not-to-die-of-art/) [Steve Aylett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-aylett/) > [Never change the truth to let others know you better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rica/never-change-the-truth-to-let-others-know-you-better/) [Rica](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rica/) > [Questions don't change the truth. But they give it motion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giannina-braschi/questions-don-t-change-the-truth-but-they-give-it-motion/) [Giannina Braschi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giannina-braschi/) > [Often times we feel like either we can't make a world of difference, or we feel that it's not going to change anything anyway.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-vujicic/often-times-we-feel-like-either-we-can-t-make-a-world-of-difference/) [Nick Vujicic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-vujicic/) > [If anyone can refute me-show me I'm making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective-I'l l gladly change. It's the truth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/if-anyone-can-refute-me-show-me-i-m-making-a-mistake-or-looking-at/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Say your truth-kindly, but fully and completely. Live your truth, gently, but totally and consistently. Change your truth easily and quickly when your experience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neale-donald-walsch/say-your-truth-kindly-but-fully-and-completely-live-your-truth-gently/) [Neale Donald Walsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neale-donald-walsch/) > [Whatever is associated with the mind is bound to change. The truth is that which is changeless. It is the Self.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mata-amritanandamayi/whatever-is-associated-with-the-mind-is-bound-to-change-the-truth-is/) [Mata Amritanandamayi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mata-amritanandamayi/) > [Change your words into truths and then change that truth into LOVE...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stevie-wonder/change-your-words-into-truths-and-then-change-that-truth-into-love/) [Stevie Wonder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stevie-wonder/) > [“You do not have a second life. To accept this truth is the way to change this truth!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/you-do-not-have-a-second-life-to-accept-this-truth-is-the-way-to/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [“but our sin will never change the truth of who we are in Christ.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-s-mcgee/but-our-sin-will-never-change-the-truth-of-who-we-are-in-christ/) [Robert S. McGee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-s-mcgee/) > [Lies will always change but the truth remains the same.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/preddie-rey/lies-will-always-change-but-the-truth-remains-the-same/) [Preddie Rey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/preddie-rey/) > [Truth changes as men change, and when truth becomes stable men will become dead, and the insect and the fire and the flood will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-bukowski/truth-changes-as-men-change-and-when-truth-becomes-stable-men-will/) [charles Bukowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-bukowski/) > [People can't change the truth but the truth can change people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/people-can-t-change-the-truth-but-the-truth-can-change-people/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by George Santayana > [Perhaps the universe is nothing but an equilibrium of idiocies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/perhaps-the-universe-is-nothing-but-an-equilibrium-of-idiocies/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [The combative instinct is a savage prompting by which one man's good is found in another's evil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-combative-instinct-is-a-savage-prompting-by-which-one-man-s-good/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Sanctity and genius are as rebellious as vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/sanctity-and-genius-are-as-rebellious-as-vice/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [To attempt to be religious without practicing a specific religion is as possible as attempting to speak without a specific language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/to-attempt-to-be-religious-without-practicing-a-specific-religion-is/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [“The contemporary world has turned its back on the attempt and even on the desire to live reasonably.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-contemporary-world-has-turned-its-back-on-the-attempt-and-even-on/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [The pride of the artisan in his art and its uses is pride in himself...It is in his skill and ability to make things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-pride-of-the-artisan-in-his-art-and-its-uses-is-pride-in-himself/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [If pain could have cured us we should long ago have been saved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/if-pain-could-have-cured-us-we-should-long-ago-have-been-saved/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Towers in a modern town are a frill and a survival; they seem like the raised hands of the various churches, afraid of being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/towers-in-a-modern-town-are-a-frill-and-a-survival-they-seem-like-the/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Wealth, religion, military victory have more rhetorical than efficacious worth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/wealth-religion-military-victory-have-more-rhetorical-than/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Whoever it was who searched the heavens with a telescope and found no God would not have found the human mind if he had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/whoever-it-was-who-searched-the-heavens-with-a-telescope-and-found-no/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [It is easier to make a saint out of a libertine than out of a prig.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/it-is-easier-to-make-a-saint-out-of-a-libertine-than-out-of-a-prig/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Experience is a mere whiff or rumble, produced by enormously complex and ill-deciphered causes of experience; and in the other direction, experience is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/experience-is-a-mere-whiff-or-rumble-produced-by-enormously-complex/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Miracles are propitious accidents, the natural causes of which are too complicated to be readily understood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/miracles-are-propitious-accidents-the-natural-causes-of-which-are-too/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Memory itself is an internal rumour; and when to this hearsay within the mind we add the falsified echoes that reach us from others,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/memory-itself-is-an-internal-rumour-and-when-to-this-hearsay-within/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Familiarity breeds contempt only when it breeds inattention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/familiarity-breeds-contempt-only-when-it-breeds-inattention/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) [Explore all 530 George Santayana quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) ## More Change quotes > [Only within yourself exists the other reality for which you long. I can give you nothing that has not already its being within yourself.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/only-within-yourself-exists-the-other-reality-for-which-you-long-i/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I can't believe that I'm sitting in meetings with Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Annette Bening. I want to take on that responsibility to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ross-williams/i-can-t-believe-that-i-m-sitting-in-meetings-with-steven-spielberg/) [Roger Ross Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ross-williams/) > [“…progress isn't necessarily about change but about things turning out as we want them to”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-hogan/progress-isn-t-necessarily-about-change-but-about-things-turning-out/) [Phil Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-hogan/) > [Nobody can tell me that no changes are necessary in Washington.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-weld/nobody-can-tell-me-that-no-changes-are-necessary-in-washington/) [William Weld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-weld/) > [If my campaign is not in the debate, we will not be talking about how we really fix this problem of endless and expanding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-stein/if-my-campaign-is-not-in-the-debate-we-will-not-be-talking-about-how/) [Jill Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-stein/) > [When you walk down the street of Kabul your values for life changes, they do change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-pierre-white/when-you-walk-down-the-street-of-kabul-your-values-for-life-changes/) [Marco Pierre White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-pierre-white/) > [Your world will change whether or not you choose to change, but you have the power to choose it's direction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-hill/your-world-will-change-whether-or-not-you-choose-to-change-but-you/) [Napoleon Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-hill/) > [I hope I continue to evolve.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-flair/i-hope-i-continue-to-evolve/) [Charlotte Flair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-flair/) > [“Stay focused on bringing people together and more on positive messaging so that you can be the change you wish to see in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germany-kent/stay-focused-on-bringing-people-together-and-more-on-positive/) [Germany Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germany-kent/) > [The biggest change for me as a mom was realizing I needed to put someone else before me. Now the hardest part about the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-alexis/the-biggest-change-for-me-as-a-mom-was-realizing-i-needed-to-put/) [Kim Alexis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-alexis/) > [“After the funeral, my life changed. I felt as if time were suddenly precious, water going down an open drain, and I could not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-albom/after-the-funeral-my-life-changed-i-felt-as-if-time-were-suddenly/) [Mitch Albom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-albom/) > [You practice mindfulness, on the one hand, to be calm and peaceful. On the other hand, as you practice mindfulness and live a life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-practice-mindfulness-on-the-one-hand-to-be-calm-and-peaceful-on/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Irish research will contribute to global progress and have the potential to help all countries realise the potential of their land sectors in addressing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enda-kenny/irish-research-will-contribute-to-global-progress-and-have-the/) [Enda Kenny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enda-kenny/) > [No man can change himself into anything from sheer reason; he can only change into what he potentially is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/no-man-can-change-himself-into-anything-from-sheer-reason-he-can-only/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) [Browse all 33,920 Change quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/change/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Sometimes we have to change the truth in order to remember it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Santayana" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/sometimes-we-have-to-change-the-truth-in-order-to-remember-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Change" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/sometimes-we-have-to-change-the-truth-in-order-to-remember-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/440/george-santayana-478_change_sometimes-we-have-to-change-the-truth-in_2665937.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/440/george-santayana-478_change_sometimes-we-have-to-change-the-truth-in_2665937.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/440/george-santayana-478_change_sometimes-we-have-to-change-the-truth-in_2665937.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Sometimes we have to change the truth in order to remember it.” — George Santayana", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "George Santayana", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Sometimes we have to change the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/sometimes-we-have-to-change-the-truth-in-order-to-remember-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/sometimes-we-have-to-change-the-truth-in-order-to-remember-it/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```