As a child I was taught that to tell the truth was often painful. As an adult I have learned that not to tell the truth is more painful, and that the fear of telling the truth—whatever the truth may be—that fear is the most painful sensation of a moral life.
ATTRIBUTION:
June Jordan (b. 1936), U.S. poet, essayist, and social critic. On Call, ch. 10 (1985).
