My Commonplace Book

“We judge and punish based on facts, but facts are not truth. Facts are like a buried skeleton uncovered long after death. Truth is fluid. Truth is alive. To know the truth requires understanding, the most difficult human art. It requires seeing all things at once, forward and backward, the way God sees.” – Greg Iles, Blood Memory

“The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read. Not by any other person, and not even by yourself at some later date. Otherwise you begin excusing yourself.” – Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin

“You want the truth, of course. You want me to put two and two together. But two and two doesn’t necessarily get you the truth… The living bird is not its labeled bones.” – Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin

“Truth does not depend on the person who says it. The truth is still the truth even if stated by someone you don’t respect.” – Terry Goodkind, Chainfire

“History is written by the victorious, the liars, the strongest, the most determined. Truth is found most often in the silence, in the quiet places.” – Kate Mosse, Labyrinth.