It's the best way of telling the truth; it's a process of producing grand, beautiful, well-ordered lies that tell more truth than any assemblage of facts. Beyond that … [it's] delight in, and play with, language; also, a curiously intimate way of communicating with people whom you will never meet.

Julian Barnes
About This Quote

Henry James said: “It’s the best way of telling the truth; it’s a process of producing grand, beautiful, well-ordered lies that tell more truth than any assemblage of facts. Beyond that … [it’s] delight in, and play with, language; also, a curiously intimate way of communicating with people whom you will never meet.” It is rare to find someone who speaks without some kind of motive. When we speak, we are actually lying about our motives and what we really want to communicate. And we can’t even be sure if we are being truthful or not.

We cannot rely on the way we speak for an unfiltered look at our true thoughts and emotions. We must rely on the words themselves to tell us what we need to know.

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