“Stories are consoling, fiction is one of the consolation prizes for having lived in the world.”

“The greater the artist, the greater the doubt; perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.”

“To read fiction means to play a game by which we give sense to the immensity of things that happened, are happening, or will happen in the actual world. By reading narrative, we escape the anxiety that attacks us when we try to say something true about the world. This is the consoling function of narrative — the reason people tell stories, and have told stories from the beginning of time.”

“I'm not the consolation prize, Dex. I'm not something you resort to. I happen to think I'm worth more than that.”

“The consolation of imaginary things is not imaginary consolation.”

“The only thing that can console one for being poor is extravagance. The only thing that can console one for being rich is economy.”

“We console ourselves with several friends for not having found one real one.”

“He did not dare to console her, knowing that it would have been like consoling a tiger run thru by a spear.”

“It is a consolation to the wretched to have companions in misery.”

“One advantage of remorse is that it sets the stage for consolation.”