How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"What in hell is the truth— the absolute truth? And what can a president do to stop these awful things from happening?" (14.12)
Leave it to President Roosevelt to question what truth is. In some ways, the whole book is an exploration of this question. Ben is searching for it on his mission; Abraham and his friends want the truth of their unfair treatment to be acknowledged and changed. Yet the White Raiders don't seem to think their account of events is even factual. So what is truth? We'll leave that one to you, Shmoopers.
Quote #5
Besides being funny, every word he spoke was the absolute truth. The bigger the lies he pretended to tell, the more truthful the stories became. (56.9)
When Ben and Elizabeth go to see Mark Twain, Ben makes this observation his favorite author. Even though Twain writes fiction, Ben thinks about his tales as truthful because they speak about real-life situations and emotions. This suggests that truth is about more than what technically takes place.
Quote #6
"What are you doing?" I said. "You can't hang him, he might be telling the truth!" I felt my whole body shaking. "Why don't you look into what he says?" (79.4)
When the KKK wants to hang a man for supposedly lying about selling land, Ben is outraged. He's not sure who is telling the truth about the land, but it doesn't matter because no one should just kill someone because of a lie.