The Good, the True, the Beautiful

We hear frequently the phrase “the good, the true, the beautiful.”¹ “Truth and beauty are in this alike,” wrote George Berkeley, “that the strictest survey sets them both off to advantage; while the false lustre of error. . . cannot endure being. . . to nearly inspected.”² Anything untruthful could not basically be said to be beautiful in any sincere sense, nor could there be goodness without truth.’ “The dreams, fictions, theories, which men would substitute for [truth],” wrote William Ellery Channing, “soon die. . . . Accordingly, the love of truth, . . . a deliberate purpose to seek it and hold it fast, may be considered as the very foundation of human culture and dignity. All human culture rests on a moral foundation, on. . .the truth.”³ Thus, truth is essential to beauty, to goodness, to culture, to dignity, to morality, and to every satisfactory relationship of life. Indeed, truth is essential to safety and survival. And what is required of us is not so much eloquence and oratory and the “niceties of language,” as Carlyle commented, but “faithful obedience, modesty, humility, and correct moral conduct. . .not [only] getting higher and higher in technical perfections. . .[but] in wisdom. . .with justice, candor, clear insight, and loyal adherence to fact. . . .”⁴ A forthright editor described the policy of his newspaper in this three-word phrase, which well could be a guide to the publishers of all print, to the speakers of all words, the thinkers of all thoughts, to the doers of all deeds: “Truth and decency.”⁵ Truth and decency would give freedom from all false dealing, from all deception, from much sorrow, from violence, from lawlessness, from every betrayal of trust. “Truth and decency.” If we know the truth; if we love the truth, if we live the truth, and act on it honorably, we shall find ourselves, here and hereafter, comfortable in sincerely good company, and comfortable with conscience. Thus “the good, the true, the beautiful” are essentially inseparable. If it isn’t true, it isn’t really beautiful.