Just Listen Lies and Deceit Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

Looking back, I don't doubt my mom believed this at the time. I learned later how Whitney had completely reassured her, saying she was just overworked and overtired, and while she had been working out more and eating less because she had found she was a little bigger than the girls she was going up against for jobs, it was by no means to extreme levels. (3.43)

Mrs. Greene cares so much about modeling that she doesn't want to believe that Whitney is sick because it would mean that her promising modeling career would be over. Maybe that's why she swallows Whitney's lies so easily.

Quote #2

But still, my mother didn't go. This was the biggest mystery, the one thing that, looking back, I could never quite figure out. For whatever reason, she chose to believe Whitney. It was a mistake. (3.72)

Whitney may be able to say all the things that their mother wants to hear, but she can't hide the fact that she's physically ill. Their mother is only able to believe her lies because she wants Whitney's career to take off in New York—it's her dream.

Quote #3

Normally I didn't stretch the truth to my mom, but in the last few months I'd learned to forgive myself these little trespasses, because they made her happy. Unlike the real truth, which would be the last thing she wanted to hear. (4.104)

Annabel thinks of her mother as emotionally weak, and so she lies to her to keep her happy. She doesn't want her mother to know the truth because she feels like she wouldn't be able to handle it.