--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Truth is the greatest of all national…" description: "\"“Truth is the greatest of all national possessions. A state, a people, a system, which suppresses the truth or fears to publish it, deserves to collaps..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdb/kurt-eisner-82056_book-ban_truth-is-the-greatest-of-all-national-po_1173886.png" --- # Truth is the greatest of all national possessions. A… ![“Truth is the greatest of all national possessions. A state, a people, a system, which suppresses the truth or fears to publish it, deserves to collapse as rapidly and completely as possible.” quote by Kurt Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdb/kurt-eisner-82056_book-ban_truth-is-the-greatest-of-all-national-po_1173886.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdb/kurt-eisner-82056_book-ban_truth-is-the-greatest-of-all-national-po_1173886.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdb/kurt-eisner-82056_book-ban_truth-is-the-greatest-of-all-national-po_1173886.png) > ““Truth is the greatest of all national possessions. A state, a people, a system, which suppresses the truth or fears to publish it, deserves to collapse as rapidly and completely as possible.”” Kurt Eisner ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. When a state suppresses truth, it inevitably collapses quickly and completely. **In simple terms:** Suppressing truth leads to rapid collapse. Key Takeaway Promote transparency to sustain institutions. Themes politics truth government stability Mood warning urgent Type political historical When to use this quote - journalism - whistleblowing - civic education - policy reform Key Concepts authoritarianism information control Questions to Reflect On - Why do some states hide truth? - What safeguards protect truth? A Different Perspective Some regimes survive despite censorship. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Book banning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book-banning/) [Book burning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book-burning/) [Censorship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/censorship/) [Collapse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collapse/) [Fear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fear/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [Truth is the greatest of all national possessions. A state, a people, a system which suppresses the truth or fears to publish it, deserves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-eisner/truth-is-the-greatest-of-all-national-possessions-a-state-a-people-a-2/) Kurt Eisner > [“Book Bans Are Dumb (Sonnet 1587) Book bans are dumb, It makes the mind numb. If banning books were justice, Middle ages would've been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/book-bans-are-dumb-sonnet-1587-book-bans-are-dumb-it-makes-the-mind/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [“America cannot mend if its wounds are constantly covered.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malika-j-stevely/america-cannot-mend-if-its-wounds-are-constantly-covered/) Malika J. Stevely > [“There are lessons to be learned from history — but generally those lessons are only known to those who read books, not to those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-dunning/there-are-lessons-to-be-learned-from-history-but-generally-those/) Brian Dunning > [“Books can look dangerous or precious, depending on which side you're looking from, from office or from the streets.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/books-can-look-dangerous-or-precious-depending-on-which-side-you-re/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [“Colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo . Burn it. White people don’t feel good about Uncle Tom’s Cabin . Burn it. Someone’s written…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/colored-people-don-t-like-little-black-sambo-burn-it-white-people-don/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [Don't join the book burners!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-d-eisenhower/don-t-join-the-book-burners/) [Dwight D. Eisenhower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-d-eisenhower/) > [“I'm sure the only act that sells more books than a good banning is a good burning.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pansy-schneider-horst/i-m-sure-the-only-act-that-sells-more-books-than-a-good-banning-is-a/) [Pansy Schneider-Horst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pansy-schneider-horst/) > [For whoever habitually suppresses the truth in the interests of tact will produce a deformity from the womb of his thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-h-liddell-hart/for-whoever-habitually-suppresses-the-truth-in-the-interests-of-tact/) [B. H. Liddell Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-h-liddell-hart/) > [“Ban bombs, not books.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/ban-bombs-not-books/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [“I'm not, like, a book guy, but isn't the point of all this book stuff like what Ms. Croft was teaching us -- that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-connis/i-m-not-like-a-book-guy-but-isn-t-the-point-of-all-this-book-stuff/) David Connis > [“Earthlog 3002-3003 In many of the monkey nations of earth their local governments often ban books, and yet not a single earth country has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/earthlog-3002-3003-in-many-of-the-monkey-nations-of-earth-their-local/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [The truth is the greatest enemy of the State.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-truth-is-the-greatest-enemy-of-the-state/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The said truth is that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-bentham/the-said-truth-is-that-it-is-the-greatest-happiness-of-the-greatest/) [Jeremy Bentham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-bentham/) > [Nowadays, truth is the greatest news. The mass media are the wholesalers, the peer groups, the retailers of the communications industry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/nowadays-truth-is-the-greatest-news-the-mass-media-are-the/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) ## More by Kurt Eisner > [The artist as an artist must be an anarchist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-eisner/the-artist-as-an-artist-must-be-an-anarchist/) Kurt Eisner > [Truth is the greatest of all national possessions. A state, a people, a system which suppresses the truth or fears to publish it, deserves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-eisner/truth-is-the-greatest-of-all-national-possessions-a-state-a-people-a-2/) Kurt Eisner Explore all 3 Kurt Eisner quotes ## More Book-ban quotes > [“Book Bans Are Dumb (Sonnet 1587) Book bans are dumb, It makes the mind numb. If banning books were justice, Middle ages would've been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/book-bans-are-dumb-sonnet-1587-book-bans-are-dumb-it-makes-the-mind/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [“I'm not, like, a book guy, but isn't the point of all this book stuff like what Ms. Croft was teaching us -- that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-connis/i-m-not-like-a-book-guy-but-isn-t-the-point-of-all-this-book-stuff/) David Connis > [“Ban bombs, not books.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/ban-bombs-not-books/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [“Books can look dangerous or precious, depending on which side you're looking from, from office or from the streets.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/books-can-look-dangerous-or-precious-depending-on-which-side-you-re/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [“Earthlog 3002-3003 In many of the monkey nations of earth their local governments often ban books, and yet not a single earth country has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/earthlog-3002-3003-in-many-of-the-monkey-nations-of-earth-their-local/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [“America cannot mend if its wounds are constantly covered.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malika-j-stevely/america-cannot-mend-if-its-wounds-are-constantly-covered/) Malika J. Stevely > [“There are lessons to be learned from history — but generally those lessons are only known to those who read books, not to those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-dunning/there-are-lessons-to-be-learned-from-history-but-generally-those/) Brian Dunning Browse all 8 Book-ban quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Truth is the greatest of all national possessions. 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