Quotes about story
page 35

“It should also be remembered that the Bible is written in the language of symbols, a special category of literature designed both to conceal and to reveal spiritual truths. Blindness is a symbol for temporary unawareness of spiritual light. The Christ partly represents spiritual intuitiveness. When one who is spiritually blind becomes intuitively awakened and active or, symbolically, enters the presence of the Christ and is healed by him, the scales are said to have fallen from his eyes. This I believe to be the true symbolical interpretation; for I look upon the story as one of the many beautiful miniature mystery dramas to be found in the Bible, portraying in allegory and symbol the soul’s awakening from darkness to light. Nevertheless, symbolism apart, the answer given by the Lord was, as stated above, doctrinally and technically correct.”

Geoffrey Hodson (1886–1983) New Zealand occultist

Reincarnation & Christianity (1967)

Truth, Beauty, Soul, Literature

“As for 'story' I never yet did enjoy a novel or play in which someone didn't tell me afterward that there was something wrong with the story, so that's going to be no drawback as far as I'm concerned. "Good Lord, why am I so bored"—"I know; it must be the plot developing harmoniously."”

E.M. Forster (1879–1970) English novelist

So I often reply to myself, and there rises before me my special nightmare—that of the writer as craftsman, natty and deft.
Letter 104, to Forrest Reid, 19 June 1912
Selected Letters (1983-1985)

“[W]e live... in the pockets of reducibility. ...I should have realized [that] very many years ago, but didn't... [I]t could very well be that everything about the world is computationally irreducible and completely unpredictable, but... in our experience of the world there is at least some amount of prediction we can make. ...[T]hat's because we have ...chosen a slice of ...how to think about the universe, in which we can... sample a certain amount of computational reducibility, and that's... where we exist. ...It may not be the whole story about how the universe is, but it is that part of the universe that we care about and ...operate in. ...In science, that's been ...a very special case ...science has chosen to talk a lot about places where there is this computational reducibility... The motion of the planets can be ...predicted. The... weather is much harder to predict. ...[S]cience has tended to concentrate itself on places where its methods have allowed successful prediction.”

Stephen Wolfram (1959) British-American computer scientist, mathematician, physicist, writer and businessman

Stephen Wolfram: Fundamental Theory of Physics, Life, and the Universe (Sep 15, 2020)

World, Making love, Thinking, Universe

“These problems do not disappear just because we do not hear about them. There is so much more happening around the world than what is communicated to us about the top stories we do hear. We all need to look deeper and discover for ourselves.... What is the problem? Where is it? How can we help to solve it?”

Angelina Jolie book Notes from My Travels

Notes from My Travels: Visits with Refugees in Africa, Cambodia, Pakistan and Ecuador (2006)
2006

World, Communication, Problem, Help

“I know you want me to believe all this, but it seems little different from the religious stories we learned in school, esoteric and relatively pointless.”

Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) American fiction writer

Source: Singer from the Sea (1999), Chapter 23, “The Marae Morehu” (p. 370)

School, Learning

“Persons whom I saw thirty years ago and with whom I was intimate now appear on the page, and this compels me to declare that The Story of the Stone is a book of the deepest feelings and the truest words. Unless, however, one has in fact experienced such events or been deluded by such feelings, reading it is like "chewing wax" absentmindedly, never understanding the miraculous wonders of what one has witnessed.”

Zhiyanzhai

Comment in the 1760 manuscript of Dream of the Red Chamber, as quoted by Anthony C. Yu in Rereading the Stone (Princeton University Press, 1997), p. 7

Books, Feeling, Understanding, Appearance

“Is fashion important? Is it important to talk about luxury? Does it really matter if you’re going to wear a red dress or not? Finally, I thought, Because of that woman, it is important. You make people dream. You make people think. You have to give them stories. You have to introduce fantasy. Fashion is how we bring them into the world today. That is my job.”

Alber Elbaz (1961–2021) Israeli fashion designer

Source: Interview, 2009, https://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/alber-elbaz

People, World, Making love, Dreams

“We believe that we in the UAE and in Dubai have a mission. This region needs a puller from its misery. There is tremendous conflict. There is a lot of hatred, sectarian war, religious war, ethnic cleanses, refugees. We see the story. Then you come to Dubai.”

Mohammad Al Gergawi (1963) Minister of Cabinet Affairs of the United Arab Emirates and the Chairman of the Executive Office in Dubai.

As quoted in Oil won’t last forever, so Dubai is betting big on science and tech http://Oil%20won’t%20last%20forever,%20so%20Dubai%20is%20betting%20big%20on%20science%20and%20tech in Popular Science ( 16 MAY, 2017) 2017 Source: https://www.popsci.com/dubai-science-tech-innovation/

War

“Our stories. We store them where moth and rust destroy. We're precious about them, no? Not because we treasure them at all, but because it's safer to hold them close. Am I reading you right? Do we have that much in common?”

Tim Winton (1960) Australian writer

Part II, Ch.1 - p.134
The Shepherd's Hut (2018)

Reading

“The strange thing is that what makes a wonderful story for some could be quite boring for others. It’s quite rare to find a story that everyone loves. But I think the best stories are those where the underdog somehow finds a way to succeed, hopefully with friends helping along the way.”

Debbie Dadey (1959) American children's writer

INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR DEBBIE DADEY https://rhyskeller.com/debbie-dadey-author-interview/ (February 13, 2018)

Love, Making love, Way, Thinking

“Our loss, indeed, will always remain loss, and no preaching or teaching can ever make it otherwise. But the question is whether it shall weaken and embitter, or strengthen and purify us, and lead us to raise to the dead we mourn a monument in our lives that shall be better than any pillared chapel or storied marble tomb.”

Felix Adler (1851–1933) German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, and lecturer

Section 8 : Suffering and Consolation
Life and Destiny (1913)

Making love, Question, Loss, Dead

“We don't deliberately desire to scare anybody - we design our creatures to fit in harmony with the story and, of course, our forte is the grotesque. That's why our films were classified so many times as horror films, which they weren't. I would call a war film a horror film because in those you see guts split and people being slaughtered, but our films deal with fantasy and are more theatrical than realistic.”

Ray Harryhausen (1920–2013) American animator

Harryhausen on Horror

War, People, Time

“The stories, they get misconstrued as the facts aren’t really facts and the fictions aren’t really fictions. Sometimes, the people telling the stories aren’t who they appear to be. Sometimes, the voices sound the same and you never really know where they’re coming from. And sometimes, the same person just keeps telling the same story, over and over until he’s sick in the head.”

Jason Tanamor (1975) Filipino-American Author and Writer

Source: Novels, Anonymous (2013), Chapter 19

People, Appearance, Personality

“Whenever I look at any environmental story, whether it’s oceans, jungles, Antarctica, or the Amazon, I look at the human side to translate it in a relevant way for human beings. It makes it more relevant and compelling to people who are watching, listening, reading.”

Céline Cousteau (1972) French-American explorer, filmmaker, and diver

Amazon ‘Tribes on the Edge’: Q&A with documentary filmmaker Céline Cousteau https://www.thenewleam.com/2021/04/amazon-tribes-on-the-edge-qa-with-documentary-filmmaker-celine-cousteau/ (April 22, 2021)

People, Making love, Way, Reading

“In a history book, you can't imagine, you can't speculate, you can't conjure new worlds because that would ruin the history book. .... And in a novel you can't have too much fact-dumping, too much history, it just doesn't work, too much footnoting, again that ruins the story. So I love the fact that I can do speculation and imagination in one and go wild in a novel and then do proper, scrupulous research in the other. I think they compliment each other.”

Kate Williams (historian) (1974) British historian

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-17945784
Meet the Author: Kate Williams
BBC
3 May 2012
2 May 2021

Love, Books, World, Making love

“I like working with identities and stories outside of my own experience, so it’s kind of just a necessity…”

Young Jean Lee (1974) American theatre director and playwright

On researching her subject matter in “An Interview with Young Jean Lee” https://www.theintervalny.com/interviews/2018/08/an-interview-with-young-jean-lee/ in The Interval (2018 Aug 14)

“Since human beings are storytelling beings, we are bound to rebel against the drift to storylessness. But there is no guarantee that the rebellions will take salutary form. Some, in their hunger for story, will be drawn to the vacant, vicarious fare of confessional talk shows, celebrity scandals, and sensational trials. Others will seek refuge in fundamentalism. The hope of our time rests instead with those who can summon the conviction and restraint to make sense of our condition and repair the civic life on which democracy depends.”

Michael J. Sandel (1953) American political philosopher

Conclusion: In Search of a Public Philosophy
Democracy's Discontent (1996)

Life, Hunger, Hope, Democracy

“The fact that I can tell stories not only by writing them but also by living them through a character and therefore giving the public emotions (possibly positive), which is the ultimate goal of entertainment.”

Isabelle Adriani (1972) Italian actress, journalist, singer, and writer

Italians in the World. Isabelle Adriani, perfect balance between life and fairy tale. https://www.tesoriditaliamagazine.it/italians-in-the-world-isabelle-adriani-perfect-balance-between-life-and-fairy-tale (5 June 2020)

“With all this dolling up and featuring of the news,it's getting harder and harder just to get the facts of the story.”

Walter Cronkite (1916–2009) American broadcast journalist

Free the Airwaves! (2002)

“God of grace and God of glory,
On Thy people pour Thy power.
Crown Thine ancient church's story,
Bring her bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the facing of this hour,
For the facing of this hour.”

Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American pastor

Source: God of Grace and God of Glory (1930)

Wisdom, God, People, Flowers

“The undramatic fact is that I just think and think and think until I have something [for a story], and there is nothing marvelous or artistic about the phenomenon.”

Isaac Asimov book In Memory Yet Green

In Memory Yet Green (1979), pp. 301–302
General sources

Thinking

“I wrote pages of music that tell the story. Life of rhythm, friendship, love, fun and pure emotion. Pages to live and let live again, in all the hearts that beat at dance time.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Ho scritto pagine di musica che narrano storia. Vita di ritmo, amicizia, amore, divertimento ed emozione allo stato puro. Pagine da vivere e far vivere ancora, in tutti i cuori che battono a tempo di dance.
Source: prevale.net

Love, Life, Friendship, Music

“If there is only one person who has the right to write the story of your life, that person is you: write it forcefully.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Se c'è una sola persona che ha il diritto di scrivere la storia della tua vita, quella persona sei tu: scrivila prepotentemente.
Source: prevale.net

Life, Personality

“My compulsion to write the story was from seeing so many people go unpunished, and so many innocents' stories being untold…”

Colson Whitehead (1969) novelist

On his moral imperative to write his work The Nickel Boys in “INTERVIEWS—Powell's Interview: Colson Whitehead, Author of 'The Nickel Boys'” https://www.powells.com/post/interviews/powells-interview-colson-whitehead-author-of-the-nickel-boys in Powell’s City of Books (2019 Jul 11)

People

“Nothing could have prepared me for the reality of the situation here. Now that I am experiencing these things with you in real life, It’s as if these fairy tales left out the most interesting parts of their stories.”

Suraj Sani (1996) Nigerian writer, Spoken word artist

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10937455-nothing-could-have-prepared-me-for-the-reality-of-the/

Life, Reality, Parting

“In as much as people are fascinated by stories, we writers have a duty to reflect issues that need attention in society.”

Suraj Sani (1996) Nigerian writer, Spoken word artist

Interview (12-12-2020), Vanguard Nigeria https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/12/how-my-writings-would-contribute-to-the-fight-against-terrorism-suraj-sani/

People

“Of course, people are more affected by actors or acting. But as a filmmaker, I need some logic. And this was my logic in making these two films, and how I connected these stories and these films together. People say my films don’t have any plot or storyline, but in my logic there is a storyline.”

Wong Kar-wai (1958) Hong Kong screenwriter, film producer and film director

"Wong Kar-wai by Han Ong" in Bomb Magazine (1 Janaury 1998) https://bombmagazine.org/articles/wong-kar-wai-1/

People

“We all need stories. What happens in our daily lives changes our stories.”

Wong Kar-wai (1958) Hong Kong screenwriter, film producer and film director

"Decade: Wong Kar-wai on “In The Mood For Love” " in Indie Wire (2 February 2001) https://www.indiewire.com/2009/12/decade-wong-kar-wai-on-in-the-mood-for-love-55668/

Change

“I like a chapter to have design of tone, as well as of form. A chapter should be a perfect cell in the whole book and should be almost able to stand alone. If this is done then the breaks we call chapters are not arbitrary but rather articulations which allow the free movement of the story.”

John Steinbeck book Journal of a Novel

March 7, 1951
Journal of a Novel (1969)

Books, Perfection

“Democracy in itself does not define or guarantee a free society. History has told many stories of democratic societies that have degenerated into corruption, plunder, and tyranny.”

Richard Ebeling (1950) American economist

“Beware Democracy without Liberty” https://fee.org/articles/beware-democracy-without-liberty/, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), (April 1, 2005)

Democracy, History

“We have a lot of heroes. We have Asian heroes, we have Asian American heroes, men, women, of all ages, and not all of them do martial arts. But that doesn't mean that they don't have their own arcs, their own stories, their own subtleties and nuances. And I think that's what's important.”

Simu Liu (1989) Chinese-born Canadian actor

Source: "Simu Liu, the Asian Marvel superhero emerging at a critical time" in NBC Asian America (2 June 2021) https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/simu-liu-asian-marvel-superhero-emerging-critical-time-rcna1071

Women, Men, Age, Art

“That story, as all good stories, planted a seed in my soul and never left me.”

Chigozie Obioma (1986) Nigerian writer

The fishermen (2015)

Soul

“I imagined the structure of the novel like a braid. My job was to blend three strands evenly and neatly. Each piece of the braid represented one of the stories. The characters were very different but they had something in common: they were emotionally wounded by events of their past.”

Isabel Allende (1942) Chilean writer

On her work In the Midst of Winter in “INTERVIEWS: Isabel Allende” https://bookpage.com/interviews/21986-isabel-allende-fiction#.XajuoPlKjcs in BookPage (2017 Oct 31)

Imagination, Past

“If time can be reversed, I would concentrate on telling stories from my great grannies -Edy kasawuli”

Edykasawuli7

Time

“Incomplete stories are make history of life. Their incompleteness makes them complete and generates curiosity in the readers, if the story is complete then it is read and kept aside, the incomplete story leaves its mark on the heart and mind of the reader and reader's start waiting for the end.”

Shabdon Ka Jahan

Life, History, Waiting, Reading

“The essence of Medicine is story-- finding the right story, understanding the true story, being unsatisfied with a story that does not make sense. Healthcare, on the other hand, deconstructs story into thousands of tiny pieces-- pages of boxes and check marks for which no one is responsible.”

Victoria Sweet Physician

Slow Medicine: The Way to Healing (2017)

Understanding, Sense, Box

“I love horror and I felt like I had a really good idea about how to make something scary, but also I’m very measured, especially with a story like this, about what is appropriate and what is not appropriate.”

Nia DaCosta (1989) film director

On her approach to the horror genre in Candyman director Nia DaCosta: ‘It is shocking the way people have talked to me’” https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/aug/26/candyman-director-nia-dacosta-this-should-be-happening-for-more-people-like-me in The Guardian (2021 Aug 26)

Love, Idea

“I've come to understand that the Bible was a great story well crafted, written and promoted to change human beings -Edy kasawuli”

Edykasawuli7

Understanding, Change

“Oh darling, let's stay up all night
Drinking whisky, telling stories, I can keep you satisfied
Oh darling, let's stay up all night
Drinking whisky, telling stories, I can keep you satisfied
Oh darling, let's stay up all night
Drinking whisky, telling stories, I can keep you satisfied”

Example (musician) (1982) English rapper and singer

"Whisky Story" (song, 2015) ("Whisky Story" on YouTube (Official video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQceqbA7kFI Non-album singles, As lead artist

Drink, Night

“The questions I want to ask will revolve around humans, connection, relationships, family, and stories - what are the stories we tell ourselves and each other?”

Lulu Wang (1983) Asian-American filmmaker

As quoted in "The Farewell director Lulu Wang on being caught between worlds" in Fader (16 August 2019) https://www.thefader.com/2019/08/16/the-farewell-director-lulu-wang-interview

Family, Question

“So whatever decision you make, you're going to be able to find stories or signs to say 'I did the right thing,' because we have to believe we did the right thing in order to survive.”

Lulu Wang (1983) Asian-American filmmaker

As quoted in "In 'The Farewell,' The Bad News Bearers Keep A Secret" in WBUR News (13 July 2019) https://www.wbur.org/npr/741217856/in-the-farewell-the-bad-news-bearers-keep-a-secret

Decision

“My 2 line life story
When life starts going well then my misfortune starts putting obstacles in it.”

Shabdon Ka Jahan

Life

“We have to continue to tell our stories. And if we change one mind, it’s one mind that we changed and I’m happy with that.”

Tzi Ma (1962) Hong Kong American actor

As quoted in "‘Tigertail’s Tzi Ma Transcends Role As Hollywood’s Go-To Asian Father To Become Trailblazing Icon" in Deadline (8 April 2020) https://deadline.com/2020/04/tzi-ma-tigertail-asian-american-hollywood-diversity-inclusion-representation-1202900973/

Happiness, Change

“We always think there are stories to do and we don’t think, ‘maybe this environment should be better’. We’ve always felt we could do anything we wanted. It was just based on what our priorities are.”

Hu Shuli (1953) Chinese journalist

As quoted in "AP Interview: Chinese editor Hu Shuli steps aside, not down" in Associated Press (30 January 2018) https://apnews.com/article/china-censorship-business-international-news-asia-pacific-d1f0e45181c64cd0b1a978842a81affa

Thinking

“The absolute love and sacrifice of our grandmother and parents are a universal story.”

Youn Yuh-jung (1947) South Korean actress

Stella, Kim, Hanna, Park, Youn Yuh-jung is just not that into Hollywood, NBC Asian America, 2021-04-28, 2021-06-08 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/k-grandma-youn-yuh-jung-just-not-hollywood-n1265530,

Love, Parent, Universe

“Specificity is what makes good storytelling, and good storytelling is what makes money, and making money is then what encourages new producers to invest in different stories about Asians.”

Constance Wu (1982) American actress

As quoted in "Fresh Off the Boat Star: I Don't Need to Represent Every Asian Mom Ever" in Time Magazine (10 February 2015) https://time.com/3696111/fresh-off-the-boat-constance-wu/

Money

“I don't have the best family life. I'm not going to have a sob story and be like, my parents abandoned me, because they didn't. But they also are not that present. When I'm alone, I'm alone. I don't have anybody to call, and so I have to create meaning from myself.”

Constance Wu (1982) American actress

As quoted in "Constance Wu Doesn’t Want to Be Your “It” Girl" in Vulture https://www.vulture.com/2016/06/constance-wu-c-v-r.html

Life, Family, Parent

“The word "interview" is written as taking material. If you come in contact with it like you want to take such material, it will be transmitted. So, instead of taking material, you are I think it's all about listening with the desire to know and listen to your story.”

Miri Yu (1968) Zainichi Korean writer

As quoted in "For those who have no place to live" A story spun by Miri Yu" in Teller Report (17 December 2020) https://www.tellerreport.com/life/2020-12-17-%0A---%22for-those-who-have-no-place-to-live%22-a-story-spun-by-miri-yu-%0A--.B1br_RudnD.html

Thinking

“This time can be seen as a time when we are experiencing the birth pains of new civilization... It's not me. It's the power of the inner truth of the story. It's an honor... a privilege.”

Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) artist, author, esotericist

The State of the World 2010, public lecture in New York City, USA, (July 2010)

Pain, Truth, Birth, Time

“I want to try new creative things and find refreshing stories. That's how I've come to choose the roles that I've done.”

Song Kang-ho (1967) South Korean actor

As quoted in "Song Kang Ho and Ko Asung Talk SNOWPIERCER, Working with Director Bong Joon Ho, Reuniting to Play Father and Daughter & Working with Hollywood Stars" in Collider (28 June 2014) https://collider.com/song-kang-ho-ko-asung-snowpiercer-interview/

“My job as an actor is to just tell the story as best I can from my character's point of view and let the audience decide.”

Sebastian Stan (1982) Romanian-American actor

Quote

“I have never had trouble with conflicting interpretations of my work. Once the story is published, it belongs to the reader.”

Michael Moorcock (1939) English writer, editor, critic

Introduction (p. viii)
The Wrecks of Time aka The Rituals of Infinity (1967)

“The dramaturgy of audiences and communities is crucial: how they think, how they hear stories, how they relate to the theatre…That was an interesting curve. Not having lived in the Midwest, I found that it’s segregated, it’s tribal.”

Chay Yew (1975) Singaoprean playwriter

On connecting with audiences in “Artistic director Chay Yew: ‘Audiences come here wanting a dialogue about America’” https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/interviews/2019/artistic-director-chay-yew-audiences-come-here-wanting-to-have-a-dialogue-about-america/ in The Stage (2019 Aug 5)

Communication, Thinking

“Don´t expect to find any success stories in human bodies.”

Grady Louis McMurtry (1918–1985) United States Army officer

Source: Stated in the Center of the Fire: A Memoir of the Occult 1966-1989 by James Wasserman

Success

“It doesn't matter who you are as an actor; that's really always in the script. It wouldn't make sense a lot of times to drastically change things. It would threaten to change the story arc and all that kind of stuff. I think really what an actor does is an instrument, not a player.”

Penn Badgley (1986) American actor and musician

Source: "Penn Badgley Explores Joe Goldberg's 'Primal' Parenting In You Season 3" in ELLE https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a37886117/penn-badgley-you-season-3-interview/ (18 October 2021)

Thinking, Sense, Change, Time

“After years of litigation, I was pleased to have had the opportunity to tell my side of this ridiculous story — Just one more example of baseless harassment of your favorite president”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Source: " Trump faces a pile of civil lawsuits as depositions begin https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-faces-pile-civil-lawsuits-depositions-begin-n1281612" (October 18, 2021)

“Squid Game is a story about human nature that most people can already relate to, yet everything is communicated through easy-to-follow childhood games.”

HoYeon Jung (1994) South Korean model, actress

Source: "Exclusive: How Squid Game’s Hoyeon Jung Went from Model to Star of Netflix’s Biggest Hit" in Vogue https://www.vogue.com/article/squid-game-star-hoyeon-jung-interview (7 October 2021)

People, Game, Communication, Nature

“Often, from difficult situations, the best love stories are born.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Spesso, da situazioni difficili, nascono le migliori storie d'amore.
Source: prevale.net

Love

“We read literature for a lot of reasons, but two of the most compelling ones are to get out of ourselves and our own life stories and—equally important—to find ourselves by understanding our own life stories more clearly in the context of others’.”

Maureen Corrigan (1955) American journalist and writer

Source: Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading (2005), Chapter 1 (p. 34)

Life, Literature, Understanding, Reading

“Unfortunately, good stories are so compelling to us when we take the role of psychologist or social analyst that we do not realize that at best they constitute just a starting point for analysis.”

Robyn Dawes (1936–2010) American psychologist

Source: Everyday Irrationality: How Pseudo-Scientists, Lunatics, and the Rest of Us Systematically Fail to Think Rationally (2001), Chapter 7, “Good Stories” (p. 138)

“The limitation of the story to a single sequence and the essentially ad hoc nature of causal attributions call into question the whole procedure of using stories as evidence, and of thinking that they establish causality or patterns of reasons.”

Robyn Dawes (1936–2010) American psychologist

Source: Everyday Irrationality: How Pseudo-Scientists, Lunatics, and the Rest of Us Systematically Fail to Think Rationally (2001), Chapter 7, “Good Stories” (p. 113)

Question, Nature, Thinking

“A successful story for me exist in a moral universe, not one where goodness always triumph, because that would be false but one with an inherent awareness of goodness”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (1977) Nigerian writer

https://www.instagram.com/p/CV2h2BKKhl0/?utm_medium=copy_link The Best Short Stories(2021)

Universe, Success, Falseness

“I look to stories for consolation,the kind of small consolation that one needs to want to wake up everyday;as template for life;for news on how others live;for reminders that life's mysteries have no key”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (1977) Nigerian writer

The Best Short Stories(2021)

Life

“The story of human evolution has progressed steadily from complete exclusiveness to an ever-broadening inclusiveness.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Introduction p. I - XII

“There are two ways of summing up world history, the inner way and the outer way. Both have been at the mercy of scribes and policies. Let us begin by realizing that the story of human evolution has progressed steadily from complete exclusiveness to an ever-broadening inclusiveness.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Introduction p. I - XII

World, Way, History

“We can still avoid the worst consequences, we can still turn this around. But not if we continue like today. You have the resources and possibilities to change the story overnight.”

Greta Thunberg (2003) Swedish climate change activist

Source: 2021, An Open Letter to the Global Media by Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate (October 2021)

Change

“Good stories will keep haunting me for years. They will mature and want to be born. I can't help it.”

Geling Yan (1958) Chinese writer and screenwriter

Source: "Yan Geling" in South China Morning Post https://www.scmp.com/article/476179/yan-geling (31 October 2004)

Help

“It’s always challenging to portray foreign characters in a novel that is told mainly from a Chinese perspective or, you may say, in a Chinese story.”

Geling Yan (1958) Chinese writer and screenwriter

Source: "What War Does to Human Hearts: Interview with Geling Yan" http://www.chinaww2.com/2016/04/30/what-war-does-to-human-hearts-interview-with-geling-yan/ (30 April 2016)

“In the absence of more consumers, capital finds ways to get existing consumers to consume more. Indeed, the dominant story for the past few hundred years: the growth rate of material use has always significantly outstripped the growth rate of the population.”

Jason Hickel (1982) author

Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World (2021)
Source: Rise of the Juggernaut, pp. 111-112

Way, Past

“The reason that I like to use classical myths as models is because African American writers and African American stories are usually understood as occurring in some kind of vacuum — because of slavery.”

Jesmyn Ward (1977) American writer

Source: On using mythology in her works in “INTERVIEWS: Powell's Interview: Jesmyn Ward, Author of 'Sing, Unburied, Sing'” https://www.powells.com/post/interviews/powells-interview-jesmyn-ward-author-of-sing-unburied-sing in Powell City of Books (2017 Aug 29)

“Story of my life. I wasted nearly a decade before I realized that life is not a game and there are no save points or second chances.”

Charles Stross The Laundry Files

Source: The Laundry Files, The Labyrinth Index (2018), Chapter 1, “God Save the King” (p. 40)

Life, Game, Chance

“A story with no moral isn't worth writing; a story with no plot isn't worth reading. And if people get your point before they get your story, you are to hire a soapbox instead.”

Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930–1999) Novelist, editor

Source: Introduction to Hawk’s Hill in Marion Zimmer Bradley (ed.), Sword and Sorceress 7 (1990), p. 183

People, Reading

“i have found
the face
of story
lying again.
i’m tired.
i’m a moth
on sunday.
i’m rain
looking
for a cup’s
crippled rim…”

Andrés Montoya (1968–1999) American writer

Source: Excerpt from his poem “declaration” https://poets.org/poem/declaration

Lying

“The thing is, kids love scary stories. They love dramatic stories. They love that kind of stuff. It’s one of the reasons why I write books now. I’m able to write the kind of stuff I like, whereas in TV I can’t do that anymore.”

D.J. MacHale (1955) American television director and producer

Source: Rejection, Scares, and Ryan Gosling: Looking Back at Nickelodeon’s “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2014/10/interview-are-you-afraid-of-the-dark-dj-machale (October 30, 2014)

Love, Books

“I have a platform and a following of millions of people, many of whom I know have been through exactly what I have. And if I tell my story, as painful and flip floppy and flawed as it is, I know it will mean something to someone, as every time someone speaks openly about sexuality, it saves lives.”

Dan Howell (1991) British video blogger and radio personality

Pain, People, Time

“I've heard both the founding stories of Google and Yahoo, and for both those companies, the founders didn't even have to get into a car. They could literally go to the law office, the venture capitalists, the bank... on a bike. It's all that close together.”

Marissa Mayer (1975) American business executive and engineer, former ceo of Yahoo!

Source: as quoted in: Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley (As Told by the Hackers, Founders, and Freaks Who Made It Boom), 9781455559015, Fisher, Adam, 10 July 2018 https://books.google.com/books?id=pwo5DwAAQBAJ&q=marissa#v=snippet&q=marissa&f=false,

Law, Cars

“I am on a quest to make movies that question the established norm in Nigeria because I don’t think there should be an established norm, I think that it should be that we’re making all sorts of films telling authentic African stories.”

Ego Boyo (1968) Nigerian actress and movie producer

Source: https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/11/12/ego-boyo-i-want-to-make-movies-that-question-the-established-norm-in-nigeria/ Boyo talks about her movie, making grounds in the industry.

Question, Thinking

“I predict that news outlets will try to compensate for the loss of relevant news by focusing on stories that are more shocking and depressing than ever. At least that way they'll get your attention and sell advertising even if the stories aren't "news" in the traditional sense.”

Scott Adams (1957) cartoonist, writer

Source: Books, The Dilbert Future (1997)

Way, Sense, Loss

“I read often but, the genre I go to is mystery. I like to write my own stories but as you know, people often die in mysteries, so someone often dies in my stories. Also, I like to go to art galleries on my day offs.”

Noa Tsurushima (2001) Japanese actress

People, Art, Reading

“Good stories are rarely true.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Tunnel in the Sky

Source: Tunnel in the Sky (1955), Chapter 3, "Through the Tunnel"

“Consider all that you've gone through, all that you've survived. And that the story of your life is done, your assignment complete. How many good things have you seen? How much pain and pleasure have you resisted? How many honors have you declined? How many unkind people have you been kind to?”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Hays translation
Source: Meditations (c. AD 121–180), Book V, 31

Life, Pain, People, Pleasure

“I have actually sat down to make a distinct History of the Norman Conquest, which I can do easier than anybody else, as I have worked so much at the subject for twenty years past, that is, a great part of the story; there will be little more to do than to write down what is already in my head.”

Edward Augustus Freeman (1823–1892) English historian (1823-1892)

Source: Letter to Dean Hook (23 December 1865), quoted in W. R. W. Stephens, The Life and Letters of Edward A. Freeman, Volume I (1895), p. 335

History, Past, Parting

“I have lived my whole life on the stage and screen before you. I found purpose and meaning in your response. For an actor that is no greater loss than the loss of his audience. I can part the Red Sea, but I can't part with you, which is why I won't exclude you from this stage in my life.
For now, I'm not changing anything. I will insist on work when I can; the doctors will insist on rest when I must. If you see a little less spring in my step, if your name fails to leap to my lips, you will know why. And if I tell you a funny story for the second time, please laugh anyway.”

Charlton Heston (1923–2008) American actor

Winning the Cultural War (1999), Video farewell (2002)

Life, Spring, Change, Loss

“I’ve always been very interested in the short story. Compared to the often exhausting world of the novel, the short story offers a quicker reward, and there’s something appealing about its greater spontaneity…”

Reinaldo Arenas (1943–1990) Cuban poet/novelist/playwright

Source: On his preference for short stories over novels in “The Literature of Uprootedness: An Interview with Reinaldo Arenas” https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-literature-of-uprootedness-an-interview-with-reinaldo-arenas in The New Yorker (2013 Dec 5)

World

“I did not stop to ask the lad his little tale to tell,
There was no need of that because I knew the story well -
"She never gave a chance to me!"”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

that sentence held it all.
A hundred times I'd lived the scene in days when I was small,
A broken rule, a teacher vexed, hot rage where calm belonged,
A guilty judgment blindly made - a youngster sadly wronged.I still can see that little chap upon his homeward way,
"She never gave a chance to me," I still can hear him say,
And so I write this verse for him, and all the girls and boys
Who shall their tutors now and then disturb with needless noise.
Be fair, you teachers of our land, in every circumstance;
Don't let some little fellow say he never had a chance.
She Never Gave Me a Chance, third and final stanzas.
The Passing Throng (1923)

Chance

“In the perspective of the audience, the movies that make me think are the most precious. I want to naturally be projected onto the film or role. From there, applying my tendencies and emotions is what I believe is the most natural way for actors to tell a story.”

Gong Yoo (1979) South Korean actor

Source: "Gong Yoo Talks About The Difficulties Of Getting Out Of Character And His Approach As An Actor" https://www.soompi.com/article/1464450wpp/gong-yoo-talks-about-the-difficulties-of-getting-out-of-character-and-his-approach-as-an-actor (15 April 2021)

Way, Nature, Thinking

“When I first started writing, I was thinking of it as a book about mass incarceration, and mass incarceration is not a plot. It’s not a story. It’s not a character. I was at Harvard doing research on this subject, and I felt like I had a lot of information, but I had not yet found my story because I had to realize that I am a novelist. I’m not a sociologist. I’m not a documentarian. I’m not an ethnographer. And I found the story, actually, through eavesdropping…”

Tayari Jones (1970) American writer

Source: On how she chose the topic of mass incarceration for her novel An American Marriage in “If I Can’t Cry, Nobody Cries: An Interview with Tayari Jones” https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/02/08/cant-cry-nobody-cries-interview-tayari-jones/ in The Paris Review (2018 Feb 8)

Books, Thinking

“People predict by making up stories.
People predict very little and explain everything.
People live under uncertainty whether they like it or not.
People believe they can tell the future if they work hard enough.
People accept any explanation as long as it fits the facts.
The handwriting was on the wall. It was just the ink that was invisible.
People often work hard to obtain information they already have and avoid new knowledge.
Man is a deterministic device thrown into a probabilistic Universe. In this match, surprises are expected.
Everything that has already happened must have been inevitable.
A part of good science is to see what everyone else can see but think what no one else has ever said.
The difference between being very smart and very foolish is often very small.
So many problems occur when people fail to be obedient when they are supposed to be obedient, and fail to be creative when they are supposed to be creative
The secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours.
It is sometimes easier to make the world a better place than to prove you have made the world a better place.”

Amos Tversky (1937–1996) Israeli psychologist

Source: Notes made by Tversky for a scientific paper, c.1972. Michael Lewis. "The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed the World". Penguin, 2016 (ISBN 9780141983035).

People, Secret, World, Knowledge

“I want to tell stories that reflect people from all walks of life.”

Ricardo P. Lloyd (1993) British actor

Source: On Acting and being a creative, as quoted by The Stage, https://www.thestage.co.uk/qa/actor-ricardo-p-lloyd-i-want-to-tell-stories-that-reflect-people-from-all-walks-of-life, October 26, 2021.

Life, People

“I have never changed my stance nor my story. I have always maintained my innocence. Thank you to all my fans, supporters and friends who stood by me through this ordeal. Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for upholding the rules of law.”

Bill Cosby (1937) American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist

Source: In 2021 on his acquittal concerning sexual assault allegations that involved him. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/bill-cosby-prison-release-1234976311/

Law, Support, Change

“Oh, I cannot tell you how the notion of eternity bores me—not to mention all the silly stories we are always making up to render the idea palatable!”

Samuel R. Delany book They Fly at Çiron

Source: They Fly at Çiron (1993), Chapter 7 (p. 202)

Idea

“When you’re working with a genre like romance, which is about something fundamental which connects all humans, it’s so important that we can allow everyone to see themselves in that story, and that wasn't necessarily there for me growing up.”

Jonathan Bailey (1988) British actor

"Jonathan Bailey: Jonathan Bailey is Redefining the Hollywood Heartthrob" on TIMEs Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oitewpYmQdY&ab_channel=TIME (13 May 2022)

“It is good to see a romance story getting the respect it deserves — people can relate because everyone gets the chance to fall in love at some point. Hopefully.”

Jonathan Bailey (1988) British actor

"Jonathan Bailey: Jonathan Bailey: ‘Sex scenes? They’re less exposing for men’" in The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bridgertons-jonathan-bailey-sex-scenes-theyre-less-exposing-for-men-s6m7db68j (13 March 2022)

Love, People, Chance

“Theatre is all about people. You can love a play and character and can be the right person to tell that story. But if you don’t click with the other people in the play, it won’t work.”

Jonathan Bailey (1988) British actor

"Jonathan Bailey: Jonathan Bailey on starring in The York Realist, humanising LGBT history and the importance of community" in the Evening Standard https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/jonathan-bailey-on-starring-in-the-york-realist-humanising-lgbt-history-and-the-importance-of-community-a3761256.html (8 February 2018)

Love, People, Personality

“I do love romantic movies, but at my age it doesn’t happen very often. I’ve always admired love stories—the expression of love is like white light to me. Every color of the universe is in the love story.”

Nicolas Cage (1964) American actor

"Nicolas Cage Is Ready to Be Taken Seriously Again" in Vanity Fair https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/07/nicolas-cage-pig-interview (15 July 2021)

Love, Age, Color, Light

“The new "humour", if you can call it that, is pure malicious gossip. Instead of making a genuine point, it's now good enough to repeat any ribald story without a thought for whether it's even true.”

Lindsey Davis book Last Act in Palmyra

Last Act in Palmyra (1994)

“Behavior is imitated, then abstracted into play, formalized into drama and story, crystallized into myth and codified into religion—and only then criticized in philosophy, and provided, post-hoc, with rational underpinnings.”

Jordan Peterson book Maps of Meaning

Source: Books, Maps of Meaning (1999), p. 78

Religion, Behavior

“Don't forget: our media culture failed to serve the public interest by missing (with a few honourable exceptions) the two biggest stories of our time: the run-up to the Iraq war and the financial meltdown. We've had far too many autopsies and not enough biopsies.”

Arianna Huffington (1950) Greek-American author and syndicated columnist

"The paywall is history" The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/may/11/newspapers-web-media-pay-wall 11 May, 2009

War, Time, Forgetting

“We like to have a point of view in our stories, not an obvious moral, but a worthwhile theme. … All we are trying to do is give the public good entertainment. That is all they want.”

Walt Disney (1901–1966) American film producer and businessman

As quoted in The Gospel According to Disney : Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust (2004) by Mark I. Pinsky, p. 2
Year unknown, published in 2004

“That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don't remember what it's like to be twelve years old. They patronize; they treat children as inferiors. I won't do that. I'll temper a story, yes. But I won't play down, and I won't patronize.”

Walt Disney (1901–1966) American film producer and businessman

From Walt Disney World: Then, Now, & Forever: Too many people grow up. That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don't remember what it's like to be 12 years old. They patronize, they treat children as inferiors. Well, I won't do that. I won't do that. I'll temper a story, yes. But I won't play down, and I won't patronize.
Year unknown, published in 2001, The Quotable Walt Disney (2001)

Children, People, World, Forgetting

Quotes about story page 35

Quotes about story
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