I have said to you to speak the truth is a painful thing. To be forced to tell lies is much worse.

How terribly hard and almost impossible it is to tell the truth. More than anything else, the artist in us prevents us from telling aught as it really happened. We deal with the truth as the cook deals with meat and vegetables.

In my painful experience, the truth may be simple, but it is rarely easy.

The truth hurts
and lie's worse.

Pain will force even the truthful to speak falsely.

Truth does not hurt, rather, it is our resistance to its message that causes pain.

How terrible — to see the truth when the truth is only pain to him who sees!

Now comes the pain of truth, to whom 'tis pain; O folly! for to bear all naked truths, And to envisage circumstance, all calm, That is the top of sovereignty Mark well.

Telling the truth can feel like violence when you were raised to confuse honesty with betrayal.

To tell the truth is very difficult, and young people are rarely capable of it.

Most people are not looking for provable truths. As you said, truth is often accompanied by intense pain, and almost no one is looking for painful truths. What people need is beautiful, comforting stories that make them feel as if their lives have some meaning. Which is where religion comes from.

The truth
has to be melted out of our stubborn lives
By suffering.
Nothing speaks the truth,
Nothing tells us how things really are,
Nothing forces us to know
What we do not what to know
Except pain.
And this is how the gods declare their love.
Truth comes with pain.

The truth can be a harsh and cruel reality.

An unbelieved truth can hurt a man much more than a lie. It takes great courage to back truth unacceptable to our times. There's a punishment for it, and it's usually crucifixion.