“I used to think that autobiography was a form of weakness, and perhaps I still do. But I also think that, if you’re weak, it’s childish to pretend to be strong.”
– Hilary Mantel, Giving up the Ghost
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“I do not want a man to use his strength to get my attention.”
– Michel de Montaigne, quoted in Good Prose by Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd
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So what is honesty? Sharing every thought that comes into your head? Revealing every nook and cranny of oneself? Raking the cuttings of our past selves?
Perhaps not so extreme. Honesty could be as simple as not speaking an untruth when asked a direct question.
Because, as writers, no one is asking us direct questions except ourselves, we are let off the hook in terms of what we reveal. After all, we are both interviewer and interviewee.
So what type of questions do these daily posts reveal? Who do I want to be on this page? An honest bore, or a restrained liar?
Perhaps the character I am happy to be here is a curious optimist. Curious for the thoughts of others, optimistic that one day all of these collected phrases will add up to an answer to the meaning of it all. Somehow collectively show me who I am.
Is it weak to ask questions? Those who seem to have all the answers but no curiosity about others are surely masking their own weaknesses.
My weakness is not having definitive answers for anything. I am inexpert at everything.
But I’m willing to learn. And to share what I find out.
Conversations With Quotations 