Jeannette Walls Quotes

More often than not, things and people are as they appear.

For every perfect little town, there's something ugly underneath. No dream without the nightmare.

Appearances are a glimpse of the unseen.

Pretending that we live doesn't make us alive.

Image is what people perceive my life to be. It's nothing like the truth.

A truth comes out when it must; A dream comes true when it will. Though the world turn to ash and dust A secret’s a secret still.

Now it's clear to me/ that everything you see/ ain't always what it seems.

It's very rare that people are exactly who they appear to be. Venice has a lot of that too, but the face of it is quite beautiful, interesting, and textured.

Generally, a lot of the things people think are made up are real, a lot of the things people think are real are made up, a lot of the things people think are spontaneous are cleverly faked, and a lot of the things people think are fake are spontaneous.

The moment the light went out, everyone stopped pretending.

Things don't always look as they seem.

People don't get to see the unglamourous side.

Nobody has a perfect life. What you see on the screen is the best of the artist.

People on the 14th floor, you know what floor you’re really on.

The secret is that there is no secret.

Women want to see the truth. They don't want to see some perfect girl.

Most people like to live in illusions.

My friend, the truth is always implausible, did you know that? To make the truth more plausible, it's absolutely necessary to mix a bit of falsehood with it. People have always done so.

Since I wasn't able to leave a succession of beautiful lies, I want to leave the smidgen of truth that the falsehood of everything lets us suppose we can tell.

On the surface, an intelligible lie; underneath, the unintelligible truth.

See fantasy is what people want, but reality is what they need. And I just retired from the fantasy part.

If they [the dead] should speak, it would be found that in matters of opinion no departed person was exactly what he had passed for in life. They would realise, deep down, that they, and whole nations along with them, are not really what they seem to be-and never can be.

A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.

Don't take shadows too seriously. Reality is your only safety. Continue to reject illusion.

No one wants to be part of a fiction, and even less so if that fiction is real.