--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I am trying to decide between the whole…" description: "\"“I am trying to decide between the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,' he said presently. 'I am afraid my history is such that I can't manage both..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc9/eleanor-catton-2384_free-man_i-am-trying-to-decide-between-the-whole_817377.jpg" --- # I am trying to decide between the whole truth, and nothing… ![“I am trying to decide between the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,' he said presently. 'I am afraid my history is such that I can't manage both at once. 'Hi - no need for the truth at all,' said Paddy Ryan. 'Who said anything about the truth? You're a free man in this country, Walter Moody…” quote by Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc9/eleanor-catton-2384_free-man_i-am-trying-to-decide-between-the-whole_817377.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc9/eleanor-catton-2384_free-man_i-am-trying-to-decide-between-the-whole_817377.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc9/eleanor-catton-2384_free-man_i-am-trying-to-decide-between-the-whole_817377.jpg) > ““I am trying to decide between the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,' he said presently. 'I am afraid my history is such that I can't manage both at once. 'Hi - no need for the truth at all,' said Paddy Ryan. 'Who said anything about the truth? You're a free man in this country, Walter Moody. You tell me any old rubbish you like, and if you string it out until we reach the junction at Kunara, then I shall count it as a very fine tale.”” [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Characters debate truth versus narrative, suggesting stories can be valued even if not factual, highlighting freedom in interpretation **In simple terms:** Truth can be flexible in storytelling Key Takeaway Embrace narrative freedom over strict truth Themes literature truth storytelling Mood curious analytical Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - creative writing - journalism - personal anecdotes - historical recounting Key Concepts Postmodernism narrative theory Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance factual accuracy with narrative impact? - When is a story more valuable than its factual correctness? A Different Perspective Reliance on truth may limit creative expression ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Free man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/free-man/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [“For no one should consider anything his own, except perhaps a lie, since all truth is from Him who said, "I am the truth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/augustine-of-hippo/for-no-one-should-consider-anything-his-own-except-perhaps-a-lie/) [Augustine of Hippo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/augustine-of-hippo/) > [“Eventually, the Pat's of this world forgot about you and moved on to someone else. The worst part was that deep down inside, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-monn/eventually-the-pat-s-of-this-world-forgot-about-you-and-moved-on-to/) [Peter Monn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-monn/) > [No government has the right to decide on the truth of scientific principles, nor to prescribe in any way the character of the questions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-p-feynman/no-government-has-the-right-to-decide-on-the-truth-of-scientific/) [Richard P. Feynman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-p-feynman/) > [Experience alone can decide on truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/experience-alone-can-decide-on-truth/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [“It was the end and he couldn’t decide if the truth had been worth telling. All he knew was that it was time to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/megan-hart/it-was-the-end-and-he-couldn-t-decide-if-the-truth-had-been-worth/) [Megan Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/megan-hart/) > [I made a habit always to hear the Indians; and although they very often lie to me, I do not show them any displeasure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-made-a-habit-always-to-hear-the-indians-and-although-they-very/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Decide what your truth is. Then live it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamal-ravikant/decide-what-your-truth-is-then-live-it/) [Kamal Ravikant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamal-ravikant/) > [“Sometimes you can’t figure out the truth because you’re asking people that are emotionally or socially invested in you to be brutally honest. Often…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-l-alder/sometimes-you-can-t-figure-out-the-truth-because-you-re-asking-people/) [Shannon L. Alder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-l-alder/) > [When you spring to an idea, and decide it is truth, without evidence, you blind yourself to other possibilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-hobb/when-you-spring-to-an-idea-and-decide-it-is-truth-without-evidence/) [Robin Hobb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-hobb/) > [“The truth which has made us free will in the end make us glad also.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felix-alder/the-truth-which-has-made-us-free-will-in-the-end-make-us-glad-also-2/) Felix Alder > [The man who is seeking truth is free of all societies and cultures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jiddu-krishnamurti/the-man-who-is-seeking-truth-is-free-of-all-societies-and-cultures/) [Jiddu Krishnamurti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jiddu-krishnamurti/) > [“My heart broke and my mind opened, tragedy works in a funny way like that ~ what once tore me apart was actually what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikki-rowe/my-heart-broke-and-my-mind-opened-tragedy-works-in-a-funny-way-like/) [Nikki Rowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikki-rowe/) > [I just nedd to know whatever has happened. The truth will free my soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-kaulitz/i-just-nedd-to-know-whatever-has-happened-the-truth-will-free-my-soul/) [Bill Kaulitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-kaulitz/) > [In life, if you don't know the truth, then you can't be free, because then you'll believe that the lies are the truth. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-vujicic/in-life-if-you-don-t-know-the-truth-then-you-can-t-be-free-because/) [Nick Vujicic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-vujicic/) > [The best society, the best human existence, arrives when humans most closely determine the truth, and act on the truth, and separate it from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-rodgers/the-best-society-the-best-human-existence-arrives-when-humans-most/) Dave Rodgers ## More by Eleanor Catton > [“We spend our entire lives thinking about death. Without that project to divert us, I expect we would all be dreadfully bored. We would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/we-spend-our-entire-lives-thinking-about-death-without-that-project/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [I often feel intellectually frustrated when I'm in a position where I'm not moving forward; when I'm not enquiring about something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/i-often-feel-intellectually-frustrated-when-i-m-in-a-position-where-i/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [An interesting thing about New Zealand, you know, literature is that it really didn't begin in any real sense until the 20th century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/an-interesting-thing-about-new-zealand-you-know-literature-is-that-it/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [“own reputation, by associating himself with a story of cuckoldry, blackmail, murder, and revenge, and nor did he spare a thought for how Balfour…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/own-reputation-by-associating-himself-with-a-story-of-cuckoldry/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [“In my experience people are rarely contented to end up where they started.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/in-my-experience-people-are-rarely-contented-to-end-up-where-they/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [“His temperament was deeply nostalgic, not for for his own past, but for past ages; he was cynical of the present, fearful of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/his-temperament-was-deeply-nostalgic-not-for-for-his-own-past-but-for/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [“What was glimpsed in Aquarius—what was envisioned, believed in, prophesied, predicted, doubted, and forewarned—is made, in Pisces, manifest. Those solitary visions that, but a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/what-was-glimpsed-in-aquarius-what-was-envisioned-believed-in/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [“Gaining control isn't the exciting part. Sleeping with a minor isn't exciting because you get to boss them around. It's exciting because you're risking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/gaining-control-isn-t-the-exciting-part-sleeping-with-a-minor-isn-t/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [Astrology's a moving system that depends on where you're looking at it from on Earth. My horoscope here in London would be completely different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/astrology-s-a-moving-system-that-depends-on-where-you-re-looking-at/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [As an artist, you need to be not at all entitled in your relation with the work. So money is kind of worrying. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/as-an-artist-you-need-to-be-not-at-all-entitled-in-your-relation-with/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [The nice thing about the zodiac as a system is it is quite comprehensive as a range of impulses and psychological states it can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/the-nice-thing-about-the-zodiac-as-a-system-is-it-is-quite/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [“True feeling is always circular - either circular, or paradoxical - simply because its cause and its expression are tow halves of the very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/true-feeling-is-always-circular-either-circular-or-paradoxical-simply/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [“he built his persona as a shield around his person, because he knew very well how little his person could withstand.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/he-built-his-persona-as-a-shield-around-his-person-because-he-knew/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [“It must have been unpleasant to be discussed as a curiosity, spoken about over breakfast, and between rounds at billiards, as if one's soul…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/it-must-have-been-unpleasant-to-be-discussed-as-a-curiosity-spoken/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [Theatre is a concentrate of life as normal. Theatre is a purified version of real life, an extraction, an essence of human behaviour that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/theatre-is-a-concentrate-of-life-as-normal-theatre-is-a-purified/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) [Explore all 168 Eleanor Catton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) ## More Free man quotes > [Never in all their history have men been able truly to conceive of the world as one: a single sphere, a globe, having the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/archibald-macleish/never-in-all-their-history-have-men-been-able-truly-to-conceive-of/) [Archibald MacLeish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/archibald-macleish/) > [“And it was then that the things I've never liked to talk about began. Not that they were particularly terrible; I've no wish to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/and-it-was-then-that-the-things-i-ve-never-liked-to-talk-about-began/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“He is a free man, not because is in a poition of political power and influence that you will never be able to achieve,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-meekins/he-is-a-free-man-not-because-is-in-a-poition-of-political-power-and/) [Evan Meekins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-meekins/) > [ The solution to this problem \[welfare-statism\] must take a positive form: the restoration of a faith in what free men can accomplish. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-read/the-solution-to-this-problem-welfare-statism-must-take-a-positive/) [Leonard Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-read/) > [“I was just beginning to wonder how long I would have to wait when finally a guard sauntered up and said, “Galloway, get your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noah-galloway/i-was-just-beginning-to-wonder-how-long-i-would-have-to-wait-when/) [Noah Galloway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noah-galloway/) > [“A port arrival makes you feel so free ...To realize what it is to be a free man, with a world before him;”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barnaby-allen/a-port-arrival-makes-you-feel-so-free-to-realize-what-it-is-to-be-a/) Barnaby Allen > [It is Mind which determines the change of Society, and it was because the mind at work was a Catholic mind that the slave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilaire-belloc/it-is-mind-which-determines-the-change-of-society-and-it-was-because/) [Hilaire Belloc](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilaire-belloc/) > [Let me be a free man - free to travel, free to stop, free to work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chief-joseph/let-me-be-a-free-man-free-to-travel-free-to-stop-free-to-work/) [Chief Joseph](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chief-joseph/) > [“I'd rather be a free man in my grave, than to live life as a puppet or a slave”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-cliff/i-d-rather-be-a-free-man-in-my-grave-than-to-live-life-as-a-puppet-or/) [Jimmy Cliff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-cliff/) > [No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/no-free-man-shall-ever-be-debarred-the-use-of-arms/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [A free man is he that, in those things which by his strength and wit he is able to do, is not hindered to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/a-free-man-is-he-that-in-those-things-which-by-his-strength-and-wit/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [The free man never thinks of escape.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/the-free-man-never-thinks-of-escape/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [Freedom of mind is the real freedom. A person whose mind is not free though he may not be in chains, is a slave,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/freedom-of-mind-is-the-real-freedom-a-person-whose-mind-is-not-free/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Very few of our race can be said to be yet finished men. We still carry sticking to us some remains of the preceding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/very-few-of-our-race-can-be-said-to-be-yet-finished-men-we-still/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [I always felt the world cannot fall apart as long as free men see the rainbow, feel the rain and hear the laugh of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-capra/i-always-felt-the-world-cannot-fall-apart-as-long-as-free-men-see-the/) [Frank Capra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-capra/) [Browse all 412 Free man quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/free-man/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I am trying to decide between the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,' he said presently. 'I am afraid my history is such that I can't manage both at once. 'Hi - no need for the truth at all,' said Paddy Ryan. 'Who said anything about the truth? 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