“The Camel-ate-my-homework Theory of Culpability,” http://www.ilanamercer.com/phprunner/public_article_list_view.php?editid1=803 WorldNetDaily.com, January 30, 2015.
2010s, 2015
Source: His Dark Materials, The Subtle Knife (1997), Ch. 4 : Trepanning
Context: Lyra sighed; she had forgotten how roundabout Scholars could be. It was difficult to tell them the truth when a lie would have been so much easier for them to understand.
“Truth consists not in never lying but in knowing when to lie and when not to do so.”
Falsehood, i
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XIX - Truth and Convenience
“Oh! the incidents all happened but — I'm not telling as much of the truth about them as I know.”
Letter to Elizabeth Otis, expressing dissatisfaction with L'Affaire Lettuceburg — a satire he abandoned in favor of work on what became The Grapes of Wrath (c. mid-May 1938) as quoted in Conversations with John Steinbeck (1988) edited by Thomas Fensch, p. 38
Context: You see this book is finished and it is a bad book and I must get rid of it. It can't be printed. It is bad because it isn't honest. Oh! the incidents all happened but — I'm not telling as much of the truth about them as I know. In satire you have to restrict the picture and I just can't do satire. I've written three books now that were dishonest because they were less than the best that I could do. One you never saw because I burned it the day I finished it. … My whole work drive has been aimed at making people understand each other and then I deliberately write this book, the aim of which is to cause hatred through partial understanding. My father would have called it a smart-alec book. It was full of tricks to make people ridiculous. If I can't do better I have slipped badly. And that I won't admit — yet.
Source: Don't Start the Revolution Without Me! (2008), Ch. 3 (p. 48)
Sad Songs
Song lyrics, Breaking Hearts (1984)
“Monogamy is so weird. Like when you know their name and stuff.”
From Her Tours and CDs, Revolution Tour
