Edgar Allen Poe, American writer: “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see”

While the modern world deals with an onslaught of deep fakes and internet slop spewed over the internet and social media it can be hard to discern what we can believe. This isn’t actually that different from when Edgar Allen Poe was writing his macabre stories.

These works by the father of the modern horror genre are known for their psychological intensity, where the protagonists, narrating the story to the reader, often struggle with their own ability to perceive what is real from what their troubled minds are showing and telling them.

This problem of distinguishing whether what is felt, heard, and seen can be trusted doesn’t just plague Poe’s characters, but everyone that lives today, has ever lived and most likely those who will ever live. It is also encapsulated in a much-cited quote attributed to Poe, although versions of it predate the Tomahawk Man, which comes from his short story ‘The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether’: “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.”

Question everything and seek the truth

The quote is pretty straightforward. Not only should you not take someone’s word at face value, simply accepting it as the absolute truth, but we can also deceive ourselves.

As we’ve all experienced, whether telling a story ourselves or listening to someone else’s, things can get embellished. Dates, facts, and more can get mixed up.

This is because our ears and eyes can get things wrong, and our brains can help to alter what we actually heard or saw. Relying on first mpressions can lead us to into falsly judging someone or something because of our biases.

And even though something may be often repeated, that still doesn’t make it true. As an adage attributed to another great American writer Mark Twain goes: “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” However, the saying’s providence is questionable according to Quote Investigator.

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