Quotes About Concealment

I concealed the burned spot in a fold of skirt, thinking how odd it was that everyone regarded women as inherently harmless. Had I been so inclined, I could easily have burgled houses and murdered hapless families from one end of the Ridge to the other.

oh, wait." Turning, he seized the wig he'd taken off earlier from his desk and thrust it into Grey's hands. "Disguise," he said, and smiled briefly. "You rather take the eye, John. Best if people don't notice you on the street." He snatched up the hat and crammed it on his own bare head, then unlocked the door and pulled it open, impatiently gesturing Grey ahead of him.

THE WIG WOULD have been much too large, given Malcolm's round-headed resemblance to an oversize muskmelon, but Grey's own hair—yellow and noticeable, as Malcolm had so tactfully noted—was thick, and with it stuffed up inside the wig, the horsehair contrivance sat securely, if uncomfortably. He hoped that Malcolm didn't suffer from lice but forgot such minor concerns as he made his way through the throngs of people in the street outside La Punta.

As I leaned against the wall, trembling in the shadows, the door to the Governor's quarters opened, and the Governor came out, returning to his party. His face was flushed and his eyes shone. I could at that moment easily have murdered him, had I anything more lethal than a hairpin to hand.

Well, that's of no consequence just now. But he did not tell you—that is—has he not told you about Willie?" I stared at him blankly. "Who's Willie?" Instead of explaining, he bent and opened the drawer of his desk. He pulled out a small object and laid it on the desk, motioning me to come closer.

ROOM FOR SECRETS

I have always been comfortable that no one has been able to assess what I really have.

I even pretended years ago to be an African, a half-caste African, but because of my light eyes I did not get away with it, but I dyed my hair black.

Each individual human being has a lot of stuff that nobody knows about. Nobody knows what anybody else is going through at any point in their lives.

If I never showed my face, it would kind of be easier.

A secret is powerful when it is empty.

If you're telling a story it's always best not to play the ending.

I enjoyed being anonymous.

Anything done in secret is more likely to result in terrible errors.

What you couldn't see and only imagined was always scarier than what was real.

There are words, looks that can kill, no one notices, everybody is clinging to a facade, a complete distortion.

Anonymity prods people to do things they wouldn't do in plain sight. The internet provides that. You can be whomever your picture says you are.

they said you were mentally healthy, but your madness is the worst

Like so many unhappinesses, this one had begun with silence in the place of honest open talk.

He didn't talk about his painful past. Ever. With anyone.

If you talk about it, you probably won't write it

Ich sage kein einziges Wort. Mein Gesicht ist aus Glas und ich wünsche mir, dass sich jemand daran schneidet.

Sometimes it is hard to know what the truth is. And sometimes truth is pain. Easier to hide the truth and make a secret of it, than to face it. -Chapter 22, page 254

Never let people see the bottom of your purse or of your mind.