the desire to say words overcame him and he said words without meaning, rolling them over on his tongue and saying them because they were brave words… - Sherwood Anderson

But these notes make no pretense of being a record of fact. That isn't their object. They are merely notes of impressions, a record of vagrant thoughts, hopes, ideas that have floated through the mind of one present-day American. It is likely that I have not, and will not, put into them one truth, measuring by the ordinary standards of truth. It is my aim to be true to the essence of things. That's what I'm after.

the important thing to learn is to know what people think, not what they say

There is within every human being a deep well of thinking over which a heavy iron lid is kept clamped.