A short story is the ultimate close-up magic trick -- a couple of thousand words to take you around the universe or break your heart.
Neil GaimanRead
I believe that anyone who claims to know what's going on will lie about the little things too.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Knowledge and honesty are deeply intertwined; those who deceive about small matters are likely to mislead on larger ones.
In this quote, Neil Gaiman suggests that integrity and truthfulness are paramount in gaining genuine knowledge and understanding. If someone is willing to fabricate or distort minor details, it raises doubts about their credibility regarding important information, implying that true insight requires honesty even in the small things.
Themes
TruthKnowledgeHonestyDeceptionIntegrity
In practice
Example use cases
In a conversation about integrity during a seminar on ethics.
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As a teenager I wrote to R.A. Lafferty. And he responded, too, with letters that were like R.A. Lafferty short stories, filled with elliptical answers to straight questions and simple answers to complicated ones.
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I like the stars. It's the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, they're always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here, I can pretend...I can pretend that things last. I can pretend that lives last longer than moments. Gods come, and gods go. Mortals flicker and flash and fade. Worlds don't last; and stars and galaxies are transient, fleeting things that twinkle like fireflies and vanish into cold and dust. But I can pretend.
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