#stories

"Stories are psycho-diagnostic ― they diagnose the condition of our psyches. When we watch, read or hear a story, whatever detail jumps out reflects an issue in our psyche that requires our attention."

"That's what fiction is for. It's for getting at the truth when the truth isn't sufficient for the truth."

"Every game is winnable if you change your mind about what the prize should be and your perspective about the players at the table."

"Some of these things are true and some of them lies. But they are all good stories."

"For all the books in his possession, he still failed to read the stories written plain as day in the faces of the people around him."

"Books are always obviously having conversations with other books, and some times they're amiable and sometimes not."

"Literature is the real life of imaginary people."

"When we read a story, we inhabit it. The covers of the book are like a roof and four walls. What is to happen next will take place within the four walls of the story. And this is possible because the story's voice makes everything its own."

"The real problem with stories - if you keep them going long enough, they always end in death."

"Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you."

"What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life?The world would split open."

"It's self-effacing, it's hard-luck, the shtetl stories. All those Coasters things are an amalgam of Yiddish and black humor."

"I don't want to tell your story because you're a insensitive, self-centered moron. I've told a lot of stories about young people, and I always feel there's hope."

"When you look at the past without God’s eyes, you subject yourself to deception. The past no longer exists and God doesn’t linger there. However, Satan will show you whatever you want to see and believe, so you will be trapped in an emotion that cannot communicate truth, beyond what you want to remember."

"Books wrote our life story, and as they accumulated on our shelves (and on our windowsills, and underneath our sofa, and on top of our refrigerator), they became chapters in it themselves."

"Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger."

"That’s how stories happen — with a turning point, an unexpected twist. There’s only one kind of happiness, but misfortune comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s like Tolstoy said. Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story."

"We live in a world where bad stories are told, stories that teach us life doesn't mean anything and that humanity has no great purpose. It's a good calling, then, to speak a better story. How brightly a better story shines. How easily the world looks to it in wonder. How grateful we are to hear these stories, and how happy it makes us to repeat them."

"I love words. I crave descriptions that overwhelm my imagination with vivid detail. I dwell on phrases that make my heart thrum. I cherish expressions that pierce my emotions and force the tears to spill over. In essence, I long for a writer's soul sealed in ink on the page."

"It's like Tolstoy said. Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story."