(?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)
Sebastian Barry

“It is not history. But I am beginning to wonder strongly what is the nature of history. Is it only memory in decent sentences, and if so, how reliable is it? I would suggest, not very. And that therefore most truth and fact offered by these syntactical means is treacherous and unreliable. And yet I recognise that we live our lives, and even keep our sanity, by the lights of this treachery and this unreliability, just as we build our love of country on these paper worlds of misapprehension and untruth. Perhaps this is our nature, and perhaps unaccountably it is part of our glory as a creature, that we can build our best and most permanent buildings on foundations of utter dust.”

Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture
tags: history, truth
Read more quotes from Sebastian Barry


Share this quote:
Share on Twitter

Friends Who Liked This Quote

To see what your friends thought of this quote, please sign up!


This Quote Is From

The Secret Scripture (McNulty Family) The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
22,935 ratings, average rating, 3,296 reviews
Open Preview

Browse By Tag