Finally he steeled himself to read the final rule again. Hehad been trained since earliest childhood, since his earliest learning of language, never to lie. It was an integral part of thelearning of precise speech. Once, when he had been a Four, hehad said, just prior to the midday meal at school, "I‘m starving."
Immediately he had been taken aside for a brief privatelesson in language precision. He was not starving, it was pointedout. He was hungry. No one in the community was starving, had ever been starving, would ever be starving. To say "starv-ing" was to speak a lie. An unintentioned lie, of course. Butthe reason for precision of language was to ensure that unin-tentional lies were never uttered. Did he understand that? theyasked him. And he had.
He had never, within his memory, been tempted to lie. Asher did not lie. Lily did not lie. His parents did not lie. Noone did. Unless .. - P89
Jonas reached the opposite side of the river, stopped briefly, and looked back. The community where his entire life had been lived lay behind him now, sleeping. At dawn, the orderly, disciplined life he had always known would continue again, without him. The life where nothing was ever unexpected. Orinconvenient. Or unusual. The life without color, pain, or past.
He pushed firmly again at the pedal with his foot andcontinued riding along the road. It was not safe to spend timelooking back. He thought of the rules he had broken so far:enough that if he were caught, now, he would be condemned. - P207
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