“Why, then, have we been bamboozled into accepting the usual tale without questioning? I suspect two primary reasons: we love a sensible and satisfying story, and we are disinclined to challenge apparent authority (like textbooks!). But do remember that most satisfying tales are false.”

— Stephen Jay Gould, book Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms

"The Tallest Tale", p. 318
Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms (1998)

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Stephen Jay Gould274

American evolutionary biologist 1941–2002

Stephen Jay Gould book Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms

"The Tallest Tale", p. 314
Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms (1998)

“I'm fascinated with the stories that we tell. Real histories become fantasies and fairy tales, morality tales and fables.”

Kara Walker (1969) African American artist

“Most of us always want to be different; better, prettier, richer, smarter, and so on. That's what makes us jealous of other people's advantages that we don't have. And that is also the reason why we are never satisfied and do not feel happiness.”

Titon Rahmawan

“This is the reason why we are not satisfied with a small or a big partial reform, because we want a total change. And if we do our utmost to use pure means and to maintain an honest and loving conscience, this will be the offer we can make and the guarantee that we can have that a total liberation will take place.”

Aldo Capitini (1899–1968) Italian philosopher and political activist

Hymn

“A tale without love is like beef without mustard: insipid.”

Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer

Un conte sans amour est comme du boudin sans moutarde; c’est chose insipide. <br class="br"> La Révolte des Anges http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/La_R%C3%A9volte_des_anges_-_8 [The Revolt of the Angels], (1914), ch. VIII

“Personally, for this reason, I feel great professional satisfaction and I think we can all be satisfied. Our generation certainly needs to be satisfied. If the next generation are young, this youth is accepted as their own, as something in common, it will be a great reason to be personally very happy.”

Dušan Šestić (1946) Bosnian musician

As quoted in "BiH: Predstavljen prijedlog teksta državne himne" https://ba.voanews.com/a/a-29-2009-02-20-voa3-86124032/679893.html (20 February 2009), VOA News <br class="br">2000s