“Tact is just lying for adults.”
“They [the Hardscrabbles]never enjoyed it when adults playfully lied to them. The adults always think they're being amusing and imaginative, just like children. But kids never lie playfully. They lie as if their lives depended on it.”
“For in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be.”
“Silence is not always tact and it is tact that is golden, not silence.”
“Adults are constantly telling teenagers that it's what's on the inside that matters. It's always painful to find out that adults have lied to you.”
“Adults tend to repress their pleasure. Sad to say, I think we become adults only through disappointment, grief, and lies. So of course gradually we become tough, less sensitive.”