Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. – André Gide

André Gide was a French novelist, essayist, and dramatist. A Nobel Prize winner in Literature, many see his novels as his most important works.

Gide’s works often centered around values. He continually challenged his own thinking, even through the works that he published.

One can only wonder what made him conclude that those who claim to be finders of truth are to be doubted.

Is he suggesting that truth isn’t findable? Did he mean to say that there are no absolutes when it comes to “truth”? Is he saying that no man or woman could ever fully know the truth?

Maybe what he’s saying is that truth-seekers are actually closer to truth than those who say they’ve found it. Maybe he had once found “truth”, but decided to challenge his own thinking, and found something else entirely.

What do you think? What was Gide trying to say here? Why did he conclude that truth-seekers were worth believing, but truth-finders were to be doubted?