# Quote — Steve Toltz, A Fraction Of The Whole

> 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.

- Author: [Steve Toltz](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz.md)
- Book: [A Fraction Of The Whole](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Toltz#Eternity) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/betrayal-wears-a-lot

## More from this book

> 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.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/its-hard-enough.md)

> 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!

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/people-always-say.md)

> I think all people on their deathbeds should not forgive themselves for not committing suicide, even one day earlier. To let yourself be murdered by Nature's hand is the only real apathy there is.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/i-think-all.md)