How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Any other day of my life I could have won a fibbing contest hands down, and that, that is what I came up with: the pathetic truth (4.41).
Lily has a talent for making up tall-tales—she does it throughout the book—but here, her fibbing skills fail her and she ::gasp:: tells the truth: She and August have run away from home and need a place to stay. She recovers quickly, though, and puts some patently false finishing touches (e.g., fake last names) on her tale.
Quote #2
The secret of a good lie is don't overly explain, and throw in one good detail (4.86).
Lily explains the art of lying. Although Lily's tendency to lie is hardly presented as a great thing, secrecy is her way of ensuring privacy and protection.
Quote #3
'It's your secret . . . You do what you want with it' (4.112).
Here, Rosaleen indicates that she, too, understands secrecy as a form of privacy, which it is Lily's right to protect.
Quote #4
'You know she's lying,' said June.
'I know,' August told her. 'But they're in some kind of trouble and need a place to stay . . .' (5.26-27)
August is not big on prodding people for "the whole truth and nothing but the truth." In addition to just believing being patient is the better strategy for dealing with Lily, she just doesn't seem to think it's her right to push Lily to tell what she doesn't want to . . . yet.
Quote #5
August picked up her book, and that was that. The moment passed, and so did the feeling that she knew who I was. I mean, it didn't make sense: how could August Boatwright know anything about me? (7.177).
Lily and August have just shared a moment in which Lily is convinced that August knows who she actually is. The moment foreshadows Lily's eventual discovery that August does know her real identity—and so much more, including things Lily herself doesn't know.
Quote #6
'Most people don't have any idea about all the complicated life going on inside a hive. Bees have a secret life we don't know anything about.'
I loved the idea of bees having a secret life, just like the one I was living (8.89).
And here we get to the bottom of the title. As Lily's thoughts here suggest, secrecy isn't all about being dodgy and running from the law/abusive daddies. With the bees, the "secret life" encompasses all the complex stuff they have going on that people aren't aware of. Kind of like all the complex stuff that goes on in people's minds that others never see, no?
Quote #7
But I will tell you this secret thing, which not one of them saw, not even August, the thing that brought me the most cause for gladness. It was how Sugar-Girl said what she did, like I was truly one of them. Not one person in the room said, Sugar-Girl, really, talking about white people like that and we have a white person present. They didn't even think of me being different (10.162).
Here, Lily uses the word "secret" to describe this moment because something so subtle occurs that it apparently goes unnoticed and unmentioned by everyone else who was present, and it's something that brings her a profound—but very private—kind of joy. Now that sounds like the good kind of secret.
Quote #8
He looked at Rosaleen. 'So how do you know August?'
I held my breath, aware that my rocking chair had come to a standstill.
'She's my husband's first cousin,' Rosaleen said. 'Me and her kept up after my husband left me. August was the only one of his family who knew what a sorry jackass he was.' She cut her eyes at me as if to say, See? You aren't the only one who can concoct lies at the drop of a hat (10.70-72).
This moment is yet another example of the pervasiveness of lying throughout the book. Lily had previously taken it upon herself to do most of the lying for herself and Rosaleen, but here Rosaleen decides to take a crack at it.
Quote #9
'But—but—you never said a word. How come you didn't tell me?'
'Because you weren't ready to know about her. I didn't want to risk you running away again. I wanted you to have a chance to get yourself on solid ground, get your heart bolstered up first. There's a fullness of time for things, Lily. You have to know when to prod and when to be quiet, when to let things take their course. That's what I've been trying to do' (12.31-32).
Despite having told lie after lie for basically the entire book, Lily is honked off to realize that August hasn't been entirely forthcoming with her. August's explanation is that truth is something you have to be ready to hear/relay, and so secrecy was the best course of action, in her view.
Quote #10
'I wish you'd told me what you knew about my mother,' I said. 'How come you didn't?'
'Oh, Lily,' she said, and there was gentleness in her words, like they'd been rocked in a little hammock of tenderness down in her throat. 'Why would I go and hurt you with something like that?' (13.58-59)
Again, Lily thinks she's cornered the market on being sneaky and secretive, so she's very hurt and surprised to learn that Rosaleen knew her mother had left her. Of course, Rosaleen thought that not sharing that information was the kinder course to take.