Source: City of Thieves
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. XV
Misquoted as "Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense." by Laurence J. Peter in "Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time", among many others.
Following the Equator (1897)
Source: Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World
G. K. Chesterton book The Club of Queer Trades
The Club of Queer Trades (1905) Ch. 4 "Speculation of the House Agent"
“Tis strange - but true; for Truth is always strange,
Stranger than Fiction”
George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement
Variant: For truth is always strange; stranger than fiction.
“Truth is stranger than fiction — to some people, but I am measurably familiar with it.”
Mark Twain book Following the Equator
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. XV
Following the Equator (1897)
“Truth may be stranger than fiction, goes the old saw, but it is never as strange as lies.”
John Hodgman book The Areas of My Expertise
Or, for that matter, as true.
Source: The Areas of My Expertise (2005), p. 18
“Truth would quickly cease to be stranger than fiction, once we got used to it.”
H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer
1910s
Source: A Little Book in C Major (1916)
“But please remember: this is only a work of fiction. The truth, as always, will be far stranger.”
Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host
“There is no doubt fiction makes a better job of the truth.”
Doris Lessing (1919–2013) British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer and short story writer
Source: Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949
