Storytelling Quotes

"When we deny our stories, they define us. When we own our stories, we get to write a brave new ending" "It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story." "The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon." "This is a work of fiction, but believe me, none of this is invented." "The role of the storyteller is to regenerate the past so that it might deliver its message for the present moment" "The responsibility of a writer is to excavate the experience of the people who produced him." "You should never trust a storyteller; only trust the story" "The only obligation to which in advance we may hold a novel without incurring the accusation of being arbitrary is that it be interesting." "History is the fiction we invent to persuade ourselves that events are knowable and that life has order and direction." "We're talking about fictional characters, imaginary people, but the important thing is that it is real for us" "The best experiences I've had on films are the ones where you really connect to the material and the director." "I don't like to lie, so when I do, I try to make it more interesting." "Stories are the way we learn about life; our actions steer the way we move forward" "The best stories don't come from "good versus bad" but "bad versus worse." "All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town." "The ability of writers to imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange and mystify the familiar, is the test of their power" "A writer's job is to give testimony, to bear witness to an age and the legacies of those who inhabit it." "Fiction isn’t bad. It is vital. Without commonly accepted stories about things like money, states or corporations, no complex human society can function" "Fiction has enabled us not merely to imagine things, but to do so collectively" "Any film that can be described in one sentence is not a real movie."