How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Only then did he also take in what Ton had scrawled in a spidery hand on the inside flap: a row of telephone figures under which were the words: BE READY NIETS IN AMSTERDAM IS WAT HET LIJKT. (1.50)
Nothing is what is appears to be—Jacob reads this on the matchbox, and he discovers it over and over again in Amsterdam, first with Ton really being a boy, then with Daan being his cousin and his grandpa being someone different than he learned his whole life. In a way, the whole book is about Jacob figuring out the difference between truth and fiction.
Quote #2
But it wasn't until he was in bed that he felt—really felt—just how embarrassed he was. And, for heaven's sake, how could he not have realized that Ton was a boy? Thinking about it now, he knew he'd known all the time. Had sensed it. But he'd wanted Ton to be a girl, had wanted it very much, and wouldn't let himself see that he wasn't. The truth was he'd deceived himself. (3.4)
We know Jacob lying to himself has more to do with his own sexual identity and coming to terms with who he is attracted to than anything else, but still—we can't help but point out that this is a big moment for Jacob in a new city with new people. He's starting to question what is true and what's fake.
Quote #3
Alma glanced up, assessing him, before saying with a bleak firmness, "You have to know your own truth and stick to it. And never despair. Never give up. There's always hope." Then, as if aware of how stern she must sound, she smiled and shrugged and added, "This I learned during the war." (4.92)
The word is out: this is the secret to getting old. For Alma, it centers on truth that you get when you're old but don't know when you're young. Even so, did you notice how she says that truth is something that you have for yourself? This means there's more than one version of the truth out there.
Quote #4
"Her honesty. About herself. About everybody. She wants to know about everything. And she sees through everything. She's a thinker. She was fifteen when … they took her." (4.108)
Perhaps that's because Anne's writing in a diary, Jacob—so of course her ideas are hers alone, since they weren't (originally) intended for a larger audience. It's intriguing to think about Anne Frank's thoughts as being honest for her in her time, but somehow for Jacob as well, fifty years later. Truth has no time period or place, it seems.
Quote #5
"That's one reason why I love Rembrandt. His truthfulness. Always honest. Loves people and loves them just as they are. Never afraid of life as it is." (8.46)
Daan loves that Rembrandt is truthful, even though it's art. We think it's more fascinating to think that both Daan and Jacob specifically love art because of is honesty, as though it can't be found in the real world except through art.
Quote #6
"Here is memory. For me now there is only memory. Memory and pain. All life is memory. Pain is of now, forgotten as soon as gone. But memory lives. And grows. And changes too. Like the clouds I can see through my window. Bright and billowy sometimes. Blanketing the sky sometimes. Storm-tossed sometimes. Thin and long and high sometimes. Low and grey and brooding sometimes. And sometimes not there at all, only the cloudless blue, so peaceful, so endless. So longed for. But let us not talk of death. Only of clouds. Always the same and yet never the same. Uncertain. Unreliable, therefore. Unpredictable." (10.24)
Remember when you were a kid? Chances are that you remember some things differently than your mom, even though you lived through the same experience. Memory isn't truthful sometimes, because we can change it over time. So how do we know what really happened in the past without memory?
Quote #7
"I shouldn't have mentioned it again. I only meant to say that Mother has always been a little full of secrets. And determined… stubborn, I should say, in her personality. Now it's even worse because the drugs they give to help her endure pain make her confused." (14.41)
Is this true? (See what we did there?) Tessel tells Jacob that Geertrui is losing her mind, but she's lucid enough to write a memoir and meet him in the nursing home without any mix-ups. Maybe this is just Tessel's way of dealing with her mom's illness.
Quote #8
Keeping a grip on himself, he decided that whatever he said, he wanted it to be true. Or at least, as true as words could be for an experience he hardly understood. (16.38)
We get the feeling that truth is subjective. Why else would he think he should tell Hille something "as true as words could be"? It's clear that sometimes words just can't live up to what's happening—it's as though they aren't truthful enough.
Quote #9
This was not an easy thing for her. But I have always believed it is best to know the truth, though it may be hard and hurts. I wanted my daughter to know the truth of her history. (19.33)
You can't handle her truth… or, Tessel can't anyway. Geertrui still thinks it's a good idea to tell her daughter where she really comes from and have it be difficult, than let her go on believing in an easy lie.
Quote #10
"Maybe she sees him through rosy spectacles now, after all these years. Sarah too. But something big happened between them then. Something true. Something existed which wasn't a fantasy. They haven't made it up. You can't deny that." (21.47)
Jacob says this to Daan about Geertrui's relationship with Jacob, but we're not sure Daan is convinced. The truth is a funny thing, and it's often different things to different people. For Sarah and Geertrui, the truth is that Jacob was an amazing guy, but Daan isn't convinced.