In the late 1970s, the Chinese communist reformers rallied around a slogan "shí shì qiú shì" meaning "Seek truth from facts". It is a Chinese expression that dates from the Han Dynasty (206 BC to 25 AD). This was the credo of the reformers who moved China to a more market driven economy following Mao's death. It meant that facts rather than ideology should be the criterion of the 'correctness' of a policy; the policy had to work in practice. Deng Xiaoping is quoted as saying, 'It doesn't matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it catches the mouse.' Mouse-catching (expertise) is important. Pragmatism is often the best philosophical guide for successful planning, "Will it work?"

"The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is." - Winston Churchill

"The truth depends on, or is only arrived at by, a legitimate deduction from all the facts which are truly material." -- Coleridge

from http://sacu.org/slogans.html