The Club of Queer Trades (1905) Ch. 4 "Speculation of the House Agent"
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.”
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
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Mark Twain 637
American author and humorist 1835–1910Related quotes
“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.”
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.”
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
“A play is fiction — and fiction is fact distilled into truth.”
Edward Albee
(1928–2016) American playwright
The New York Times (18 September 1966)
“Non-fiction contains facts, fiction contains truth.”
Clive Barker
(1952) author, film director and visual artist
Next Testament (Boom Studios, 2014)