--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The truth, of course, is that a billion…" description: "\"The truth, of course, is that a billion falsehoods told a billion times by a billion people are still false.\" — Travis Walton" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a3/travis-walton-81663_billions_the-truth-of-course-is-that-a-billion-fa_2158596.jpg" --- # The truth, of course, is that a billion falsehoods told a… ![“The truth, of course, is that a billion falsehoods told a billion times by a billion people are still false.” quote by Travis Walton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a3/travis-walton-81663_billions_the-truth-of-course-is-that-a-billion-fa_2158596.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a3/travis-walton-81663_billions_the-truth-of-course-is-that-a-billion-fa_2158596.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a3/travis-walton-81663_billions_the-truth-of-course-is-that-a-billion-fa_2158596.jpg) > “The truth, of course, is that a billion falsehoods told a billion times by a billion people are still false.” Travis Walton ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Repeating false statements many times does not make them true; truth is independent of frequency. **In simple terms:** Falsehoods stay false despite repetition. Key Takeaway Question evidence, not popularity. Themes truth logic critical thinking Mood skeptical analytical Type philosophical informational When to use this quote - media consumption - political discourse - social media - education - debate Key Concepts epistemology information overload Questions to Reflect On - How do you verify a claim’s truth? - What role does consensus play in belief formation? A Different Perspective Mass repetition can create perceived credibility, but facts remain unchanged. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Falsehood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/falsehood/) [Falsehoods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/falsehoods/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [ A mind conscious of right laughs at the falsehoods of rumour. \[Lat., Conscia mens recti famae mendacia risit.\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/a-mind-conscious-of-right-laughs-at-the-falsehoods-of-rumour-lat/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [The way to combat noxious ideas is with other ideas. The way to combat falsehoods is with truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-o-douglas/the-way-to-combat-noxious-ideas-is-with-other-ideas-the-way-to-combat/) [William O. Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-o-douglas/) > [Habitual liars invent falsehoods not to gain any end or even to deceive their hearers, but to amuse themselves. It is partly practice and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/habitual-liars-invent-falsehoods-not-to-gain-any-end-or-even-to/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) > [Some years ago I was struck by the large number of falsehoods that I had accepted as true in my childhood, and by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ren-descartes/some-years-ago-i-was-struck-by-the-large-number-of-falsehoods-that-i/) [Rene Descartes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ren-descartes/) > [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/) > [History - a vast Mississippi of falsehoods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/history-a-vast-mississippi-of-falsehoods/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [That public men publish falsehoods Is nothing new. That America must accept Like the historical republics corruption and empire Has been known for years.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/that-public-men-publish-falsehoods-is-nothing-new-that-america-must/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [Maybe honesty is overvalued. What's truly priceless is picking out from a stream of falsehoods the ones you most need to hear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/maybe-honesty-is-overvalued-what-s-truly-priceless-is-picking-out/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [Alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-todd/alternative-facts-are-not-facts-they-re-falsehoods/) [Chuck Todd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-todd/) > [ “I just wish this social institution \[religion\] wasn't based on what appears to me to be a monumental hoax built on an accumulation of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-rooney/i-just-wish-this-social-institution-religion-wasn-t-based-on-what/) [Andy Rooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-rooney/) > [Vulgarity is the conduct of other people, just as falsehoods are the truths of other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/vulgarity-is-the-conduct-of-other-people-just-as-falsehoods-are-the/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Many falsehoods are passing into uncontradicted history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/many-falsehoods-are-passing-into-uncontradicted-history/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Inculcating the various competing - competing, note - falsehoods of the major faiths into small children is a form of child abuse, and a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-c-grayling/inculcating-the-various-competing-competing-note-falsehoods-of-the/) [A.C. Grayling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-c-grayling/) > [Tangible language, which often tells more falsehoods than truths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/tangible-language-which-often-tells-more-falsehoods-than-truths/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Authoritarian institutions and marketers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-kahneman/a-reliable-way-to-make-people-believe-in-falsehoods-is-frequent-2/) [Daniel Kahneman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-kahneman/) ## More by Travis Walton > [I've come to realize that the biggest problem anywhere in the world is that people's perceptions of reality are compulsively filtered through the screening…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/travis-walton/i-ve-come-to-realize-that-the-biggest-problem-anywhere-in-the-world/) Travis Walton > [It was many years ago that I got out of a crewtruck in the national forest and ran toward a large glowing object hovering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/travis-walton/it-was-many-years-ago-that-i-got-out-of-a-crewtruck-in-the-national/) Travis Walton Explore all 3 Travis Walton quotes ## More Billions quotes > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [As far as Japan is concerned, I want to help all of our allies, but we are losing billions and billions of dollars. 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Sooner or later we won’t be able to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-bloch/the-universe-is-simmering-down-like-a-giant-stew-left-to-cook-for/) [Arthur Bloch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-bloch/) > [Right now, the government is spending billions of dollars supporting the problem-makers in the U.S. economy - the polluters, despoilers, incarcerators, and warmongers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/right-now-the-government-is-spending-billions-of-dollars-supporting/) [Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/) > [If Jesus is the Son of God in human flesh, He's one of a kind of the 13 billions of people who have ever lived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-lahaye/if-jesus-is-the-son-of-god-in-human-flesh-he-s-one-of-a-kind-of-the/) [Tim LaHaye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-lahaye/) > [Here we were talking about economic development, about investing billions of dollars in various programs, and I could see it wasn't billions of dollars…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muhammad-yunus/here-we-were-talking-about-economic-development-about-investing/) [Muhammad Yunus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muhammad-yunus/) > [Everyone thinks they've won the Magical Belief Lottery. 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In a hundred billion galaxies,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/every-one-of-us-is-in-the-cosmic-perspective-precious-if-a-human/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [ We have the ability to take him \[President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez\] out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-robertson/we-have-the-ability-to-take-him-president-of-venezuela-hugo-chavez/) [Pat Robertson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-robertson/) > [The buildings that were in question, they said in the same report, which was - actually, it wasn't even a bad story, to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/the-buildings-that-were-in-question-they-said-in-the-same-report/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) Browse all 1,864 Billions quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The truth, of course, is that a billion falsehoods told a billion times by a billion people are still false.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Travis Walton" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/travis-walton/the-truth-of-course-is-that-a-billion-falsehoods-told-a-billion-times/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Billions" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/travis-walton/the-truth-of-course-is-that-a-billion-falsehoods-told-a-billion-times/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a3/travis-walton-81663_billions_the-truth-of-course-is-that-a-billion-fa_2158596.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a3/travis-walton-81663_billions_the-truth-of-course-is-that-a-billion-fa_2158596.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a3/travis-walton-81663_billions_the-truth-of-course-is-that-a-billion-fa_2158596.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The truth, of course, is that a billion falsehoods told a billion times by a billion people are still false.” — Travis Walton", "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": "Travis Walton", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/travis-walton/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The truth, of course, is that...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/travis-walton/the-truth-of-course-is-that-a-billion-falsehoods-told-a-billion-times/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/travis-walton/the-truth-of-course-is-that-a-billion-falsehoods-told-a-billion-times/#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 } } ] } ```