Code Name Verity Truth Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Part.Date.Paragraph) or (Part.Section.Paragraph)

Quote #1

She set about lighting the cigarettes and announced in her brisk, straightforward French, "I don't want to waste my time listening to propaganda. It's my job and I'm wise to it. I'll be frank with you—I'm looking for truth. Je cherche la vérité." (1.20.XI.43.17)

How soon were you on to Georgia Penn's game? Could she make it any more obvious? Of course, she and Julie are the only ones in the room who know Julie's code name, so it's clearly not obvious to von Linden and Engel, who probably chalk up her slightly odd choice of words to translation difficulties.

Quote #2

"Verity," I said in English, and exhaled every last molecule of nicotine and oxygen I had inside me. Then gasped: "'Truth is the daughter of time, not authority.'" And: "'This above all, to thine own self be true.'" I gibbered a bit, I confess. "Verity! I am the soul of verity." I laughed so wildly, then, that the Hauptsturmführer had to clear his throat to remind me to control myself. "I am the soul of verity," I repeated. "Je suis l'ésprit de vérité." (1.20.XI.43.25)

For once, Julie's calm gets disturbed when she hears her code name, and she has to buy some time. And what better way to buy time than by slipping in some sweet literary quotes? That's what we always do.

Quote #3

"Don't you ever lie? What the hell do you do? What do you tell your daughter? When she asks about your work, what truth does the lovely Isolde get out of you?" (1.25.XI.43.22)

Julie asks the tough questions, no doubt. And seriously, if you're a Gestapo officer, what do you tell your kids about what you do all day? There seems to be a message here, too: everybody lies. Julie's not the only one, and in this book, we can't trust anyone to be what they seem.