--Liar by Justine Larbalestier
“This is what I thought would happen. This is what could have happened. This is what did happen.”
--Liar by Justine Larbalestier
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“Not one of them has ever suggested that maybe I lie because the world is better the way I tell it.”
--Liar by Justine Larbalestier “But you want to know why, don’t you? Why did I lie about having a brother? I wanted to see if I could do it: invent a person. Make them believable. Real. Whole. I wanted to see if you would buy it. And you did. You buy everything, don’t you? You make it too easy.”
--Liar by Justine Larbalestier “That, and your desire, your overwhelming desire, not to be lied to. You believe me because you want what I tell you to be the truth. No matter how crazy. And because I promised no more lies.”
--Liar by Justine Larbalestier “But I know a lot about cages, about prisons. I’ve been kept hostage by lies all my life. Imprisoned by them. This is how it is: I’m alone. Bars surround me. Prison guards bind my arms, bring me pills several times a day. They ask me—beg me—to tell them the truth. I am. Every single word. Truth. They don’t believe in my wolves.”
--Liar by Justine Larbalestier “That’s why I’m writing this. To keep me from going over the edge. I don’t want to be a liar anymore. I want to tell my stories true. But I haven’t so far. Not entirely. I’ve tried. I’ve really, really tried. I’ve tried harder than I ever have. But, well, there’s so much and it’s so hard. I slipped a little. Just a little. I’ll make it up to you, though. From now on it’s nothing but the truth. Truly.”
--Liar by Justine Larbalestier “But there are moments. Tiny ones when I’m not entirely clear whether it happened or I made it up. Those moments scare me much more than getting caught. I’ve been caught. I know what that’s like. I’ve never gone crazy. I don’t want to know what that’s like. Weaving lies is one thing; having them weave you is another.”
--Liar by Justine Larbalestier “Once you start believing, you stop being compulsive and morph into pathological. It happens a lot after something terrible has happened. The brain cracks, can’t accept the truth, and makes its own. Invents a bigger and better world that explains the bad thing, makes it possible to keep living. When the world you’re seeing doesn’t line up with the world that is—you can wind up doing things--terrible things—without knowing it.”
--Liar by Justine Larbalestier “Yet that’s not the worst danger of being a liar. Oh no. Much worse than discovery, than their sense of betrayal, is when you start to believe your own lies. When it all blurs together. You lose track of what’s real and what’s not. You start to feel as if you make the world with your words. Your lies get stranger and weirder and denser, get bigger than words, turn into worlds, become real. You feel powerful, invincible.”
--Liar by Justine Larbalestier “I was ashamed and angry and hating being caught and already spinning more lies to explain it all away. But it is also a relief. It’s always a relief. Because the air is clear, now--at last—I can tell the truth. From this moment on everything will be true. A life lived true with no rotten foundations. Trust. Understanding. Everything shiny and new. Except I can’t not ever. Because my truth is so unbelievable—“
--Liar by Justine Larbalestier |