A man's truth is, first and foremost, what he hides.

Quote of the Week 27

“A man's truth is, first and foremost, what he hides.”


Original (Antimémoires, 1967, pg. 16):

“La vérité d'un homme, c'est d'abord ce qu'il cache.


On m'a prêté la phrase d'un de mes personnages: 
«L'homme est ce qu'il fait!» 

Certes, il n'est pas que cela; et le personnage répondait à un autre, qui venait de dire:

«Qu'est-ce qu'un homme? Un misérable petit tas de secrets ...»”
 
 
This paraphrases a line of dialogue from his own earlier work (Les Noyers de l'Altenburg, 1943): 

“Essentially, a person is what they hide: a miserable little pile of secrets.” 



Triggered by a recent tweet:


Variants:

“Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.”

“The truth of a man is first and foremost what he hides.”










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