"Never underestimate people. They do desire the cut of truth"
About this Quote
Goldberg’s line lands like a clean blade: flattering in its faith in people, and faintly accusatory in what it implies about how often we lie to them. “Never underestimate people” rejects the patronizing reflex that audiences need soft edges, euphemisms, or carefully sanded honesty. In a culture that markets “relatable” as a kind of safety harness, she argues for something riskier: precision.
The phrase “desire the cut of truth” is doing double duty. “Desire” makes truth less like medicine and more like appetite; it isn’t merely tolerated, it’s sought out. “Cut” refuses the sentimental idea that truth is always soothing. It’s surgical, maybe even wounding. Goldberg, a writer who has long championed practice, attention, and unvarnished observation, is pointing to a craft ethic: readers can feel when you’re protecting them from reality, and they resent it. The subtext is also a warning to the writer: don’t underestimate yourself by diluting what you saw.
Context matters here: Goldberg comes out of a lineage (Zen-inflected, workshop-tested, anti-precious) that treats writing as a discipline of noticing. “Truth,” in that frame, isn’t grand moral pronouncement; it’s the accurate detail, the unglamorous admission, the sentence that refuses to perform. The quote defends candor as a form of respect. You tell the truth not because it’s noble, but because people are sturdier than the gatekeepers think - and because art that doesn’t risk a cut rarely leaves a mark.
The phrase “desire the cut of truth” is doing double duty. “Desire” makes truth less like medicine and more like appetite; it isn’t merely tolerated, it’s sought out. “Cut” refuses the sentimental idea that truth is always soothing. It’s surgical, maybe even wounding. Goldberg, a writer who has long championed practice, attention, and unvarnished observation, is pointing to a craft ethic: readers can feel when you’re protecting them from reality, and they resent it. The subtext is also a warning to the writer: don’t underestimate yourself by diluting what you saw.
Context matters here: Goldberg comes out of a lineage (Zen-inflected, workshop-tested, anti-precious) that treats writing as a discipline of noticing. “Truth,” in that frame, isn’t grand moral pronouncement; it’s the accurate detail, the unglamorous admission, the sentence that refuses to perform. The quote defends candor as a form of respect. You tell the truth not because it’s noble, but because people are sturdier than the gatekeepers think - and because art that doesn’t risk a cut rarely leaves a mark.
Quote Details
| Topic | Truth |
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