{ "type": "quote", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/betrayal-wears-a-lot", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/betrayal-wears-a-lot.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/betrayal-wears-a-lot.md", "id": "fbb3adc4-3d03-428f-ad2a-57cc9a1734c2", "slug": "betrayal-wears-a-lot", "text": "Betrayal wears a lot of different hats. You don't have to make a show of it like Brutus did, you don't have to leave anything visible jutting from the base of your best friend's spine, and afterward can stand there straining your ears for hours, but you won't hear a cock crow either. No, the most insidious betrayals are done merely by leaving the life jacket hanging in your closet while you lie to yourself that it's probably not the drowning man's size. That's how we slide, and while we slide we blame the world's problems on colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, corporatism, stupid white men, and America, but there's no need to make a brand name of blame. Individual self-interest: that's the source of our descent, and it doesn't start in the boardroom or the war rooms either. It starts in the home.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Steve Toltz", "slug": "steve-toltz", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz" }, "book": { "title": "A Fraction Of The Whole", "slug": "a-fraction-of-the-whole", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "selfishness", "slug": "selfishness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/selfishness" }, { "name": "betrayal", "slug": "betrayal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/betrayal" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Toltz#Eternity", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:10", "more_from_book": [ { "id": "e6668b2d-4267-4b52-9d67-fa1ffde39e5e", "slug": "its-hard-enough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/its-hard-enough", "text": "It's hard enough to go through life disappointing yourself every second day, but disappointing others takes it out of you too. That's why you should never answer the phone or the door. So you don't have to say no to whoever's on the other side.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "disappointment", "slug": "disappointment", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/disappointment" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Toltz#Seven", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:12" }, { "id": "bb42946c-6260-4787-a3b0-bc7e7d5c6719", "slug": "people-always-say", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/people-always-say", "text": "People always say, \"It's good to be a part of a something bigger than yourself,\" but you already are. You're part of a huge thing. The whole of humanity. That's enormous. But you can't see it, so you pick, what? An organization? A culture? A religion? That's not bigger than you. It's much, much smaller!", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "belonging", "slug": "belonging", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/belonging" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Toltz#Seven", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:12" }, { "id": "7285296a-14ff-40a4-966a-0a74806d1b8a", "slug": "what-a-disappointment", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/what-a-disappointment", "text": "What a disappointment my brain turned out to be. After everything I had witnessed in my life, I had almost convinced myself that the wheel of personal history spins on thought, and therefore my history was muddy because my thinking had been muddy. I imagined that everything I'd experienced to date was likely to be a materialization of my fears (especially my fear of Dad's fears). In short, I had briefly believed that if man's character is his fate, and if his character is the sum of his actions, and his actions are a result of his thoughts, then man's character, actions, and fate are dependent on what he thinks. Now I wasn't so sure.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" }, { "name": "fate", "slug": "fate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fate" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Toltz#Seven", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:12" } ] }