Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. In the first, it is ridiculed. In the second, it is opposed. In the third, it is regarded as self-evident.

The saying sketches a familiar social trajectory in the reception of new ideas: initial mockery, then organized resistance, and finally assimilation so complete that the idea seems obvious in hindsight. It highlights how “truth” is not always recognized on evidential grounds alone; it must also overcome psychological investment, institutional inertia, and threats to status or worldview. The final stage—self-evidence—underscores a paradox: once an innovation is normalized, people often forget the controversy that surrounded it, rewriting the past as if acceptance were inevitable. The quote is frequently invoked to encourage perseverance by reformers and scientists, though it can also be misused to imply that opposition automatically proves an idea true.