--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But the fact being once established, that…" description: "\"But the fact being once established, that the press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood, I leave to others to restore it to its strength, ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6d/thomas-jefferson-43_abandon_but-the-fact-being-once-established-that_2715943.jpg" --- # But the fact being once established, that the press is… ![“But the fact being once established, that the press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood, I leave to others to restore it to its strength, by recalling it within the pale of truth. Within that, it is a noble institution, equally the friend of science and of civil liberty.” quote by Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6d/thomas-jefferson-43_abandon_but-the-fact-being-once-established-that_2715943.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6d/thomas-jefferson-43_abandon_but-the-fact-being-once-established-that_2715943.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6d/thomas-jefferson-43_abandon_but-the-fact-being-once-established-that_2715943.jpg) > “But the fact being once established, that the press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood, I leave to others to restore it to its strength, by recalling it within the pale of truth. Within that, it is a noble institution, equally the friend of science and of civil liberty.” [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Press loses credibility when it spreads falsehoods; truth restores its noble role supporting science and liberty. **In simple terms:** Truthful press upholds science and freedom. Key Takeaway Promote truth and accountability in media. Themes media truth science liberty Mood critical concerned Type political ethical When to use this quote - news reporting - academic publishing - public policy - social media platforms Key Concepts journalism ethics information integrity Questions to Reflect On - What mechanisms can safeguard media integrity? - How can individuals discern truth from falsehood? A Different Perspective Press may be influenced by political or commercial pressures, compromising truth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abandon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abandon/) [Abandons Falsehood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abandons-falsehood-2844414/) [Civil liberties](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-liberties/) [Established Press](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/established-press-2844416/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Falsehood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/falsehood/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Friendship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendship/) [Institutions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/institutions/) [Journalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/journalism/) [Liberty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liberty/) [Noble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/noble/) [Noble Institution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/noble-institution-2844417/) [Pale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pale/) [Press Impotent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/press-impotent-2844415/) [Presses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/presses/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [The press is impotent when it abandons itself to falsehood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-press-is-impotent-when-it-abandons-itself-to-falsehood/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [To be a righteous woman during the winding up scenes on this earth, before the second coming of our Savior, is an especially noble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/to-be-a-righteous-woman-during-the-winding-up-scenes-on-this-earth/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) > [History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/history-i-believe-furnishes-no-example-of-a-priest-ridden-people-4/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [The history of his present majesty, is a history of unremitting injuries and usurpationsall of which have in direct object the establishment of an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/the-history-of-his-present-majesty-is-a-history-of-unremitting/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [From forty years' experience of the wretched guess-work of the newspapers of what is not done in open daylight, and of their falsehood even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/from-forty-years-experience-of-the-wretched-guess-work-of-the/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/he-who-permits-himself-to-tell-a-lie-once-finds-it-much-easier-to-do-2/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [If we could believe that Jesus...countenanced the follies, falsehoods and charlatanisms which his biographers father on him, ...the conclusion would be irresistible...that he was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/if-we-could-believe-that-jesus-countenanced-the-follies-falsehoods/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [ If we believe that he \[Jesus Christ\]really countenanced the follies, the falsehoods, and the charlatanisms, which his biographers \[writers of the New Testament\]father upon… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/if-we-believe-that-he-jesus-christ-really-countenanced-the-follies/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“It's almost hard to imagine anything more undemocratic than the view that political officials should not debate American wars in public, but only express…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenn-greenwald/it-s-almost-hard-to-imagine-anything-more-undemocratic-than-the-view/) [Glenn Greenwald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenn-greenwald/) > [For the hundreds of thousands of Californians in gay and lesbian households who are managing their day-to-day lives, this decision affirms the full legal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arnold-schwarzenegger/for-the-hundreds-of-thousands-of-californians-in-gay-and-lesbian/) [Arnold Schwarzenegger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arnold-schwarzenegger/) > [Since I became chairman, I've tried to turn EFF into civil liberties and responsibilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-dyson/since-i-became-chairman-i-ve-tried-to-turn-eff-into-civil-liberties/) [Esther Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-dyson/) > [It is aspiring tyrants who say that 'civil liberties end when an attack on our safety begins.' Conversely, leaders who wish to preserve the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-d-snyder/it-is-aspiring-tyrants-who-say-that-civil-liberties-end-when-an/) [Timothy D. Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-d-snyder/) > [As long as I have any choice in the matter, I shall live only in a country where civil liberty, tolerance and equality of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/as-long-as-i-have-any-choice-in-the-matter-i-shall-live-only-in-a/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [Using a broad brushstroke, I think Libertarian - most of America are socially accepting and fiscally responsible. I'm in that category. I think, broadly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-johnson/using-a-broad-brushstroke-i-think-libertarian-most-of-america-are/) [Gary Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-johnson/) > [I can say across Europe that many principles that have been taken for granted here around free speech, and around civil liberties and an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/i-can-say-across-europe-that-many-principles-that-have-been-taken-for/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) ## More by Thomas Jefferson > [A man has a right to use a saw, an axe, a plane, separately; may he not combine their uses on the same piece…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-man-has-a-right-to-use-a-saw-an-axe-a-plane-separately-may-he-not/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/believing-with-you-that-religion-is-a-matter-which-lies-solely/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [ \[States and the Federal government are\] coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/states-and-the-federal-government-are-coordinate-departments-of-one/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/i-am-for-freedom-of-religion-and-against-all-maneuvers-to-bring-about/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/single-acts-of-tyranny-may-be-ascribed-to-the-accidental-opinion-of-a/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“Perceiving the order of nature to be that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue, I am willing to hope it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/perceiving-the-order-of-nature-to-be-that-individual-happiness-shall/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/free-government-is-founded-in-jealousy-and-not-in-confidence-it-is/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Though you cannot see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/though-you-cannot-see-when-you-take-one-step-what-will-be-the-next/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/a-well-informed-citizenry-is-the-best-defense-against-tyranny/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [The two principles on which our conduct towards the Indians should be founded are justice and fear. 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But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/when-the-people-are-afraid-of-the-government-that-s-tyranny-but-when/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/we-hold-these-truths-to-be-self-evident-that-all-men-are-created/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) [Explore all 2,098 Thomas Jefferson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) ## More Abandon quotes > [Humans are, as Sartre put it, 'condemned to be free'. 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Victory is a treacherous journey.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dane-cook/every-great-thing-starts-with-an-idea-followed-by-a-doubt-and-finally/) [Dane Cook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dane-cook/) > [Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/those-who-have-been-once-intoxicated-with-power-and-have-derived-any/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [Do not lose hope; St. Joseph also experienced moments of difficulty, but he never lost faith and was able to overcome them, in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-francis/do-not-lose-hope-st-joseph-also-experienced-moments-of-difficulty-but/) [Pope Francis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-francis/) > [It is a dangerous and fateful presumption, besides the absurd temerity that it implies, to disdain what we do not comprehend. 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