There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths. — Alfred North Whitehead

From Life is a Joke, 100 Life Lessons by John and Gordon Javna.

—32— The Whole Truth

“There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths.”

—Alfred North Whitehead

Out at sea, a young deckhand named Charlie drank alcohol for the first time in his life, and he got pretty sloppy. The next day, he saw that in the ship’s official log, the captain had entered: “Charlie was drunk today.”

Charlie went to the captain and asked him to make an additional entry noting that it was his first time drinking. “Otherwise,” he explained, “it looks like this is a common occurrence for me, which it definitely is not!”

“That’s too bad,” said the captain, “but the entry was truthful, and therefore it will not be changed.”

A few days later, when it was Charlie’s job to write the log, he entered, “The captain was sober today.”