Vacuously True Statements

Famous quotes containing the words true and/or statements:

“Can he who has discovered only some of the values of whalebone and whale oil be said to have discovered the true use of the whale?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

“If we do take statements to be the primary bearers of truth, there seems to be a very simple answer to the question, what is it for them to be true: for a statement to be true is for things to be as they are stated to be.”
—J.L. (John Langshaw)