Telling Stories Quotes

• The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.

  Muriel Rukeyser

  Peace, Science, Technology

  Muriel Rukeyser (1994). “Out of Silence: Selected Poems”, p.135, Northwestern University Press

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• If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.

  Rudyard Kipling

  Writing, History, Stories

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• There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

  Maya Angelou

  Inspirational, Moving On, Powerful

  FaceBook post by Maya Angelou from Feb 14, 2013

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• Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.

  Robert McKee

  Leadership, Morning, Powerful

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.

  Hannah Arendt

  Inspirational, Life, Inspiring

  Hannah Arendt (1970). “Men in Dark Times”, p.115, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• All sorrows can be borne if you can put them into a story.

  Isak Dinesen

  Writing, Sorrow, Ifs

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• We tell ourselves stories in order to live.

  Joan Didion

  Writing, Order, Stories

  1979 The White Album,'The White Album, 1'.

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• Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.

  Madeleine L'Engle

  Courage, Stories, Alive

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• Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.

  Barry Lopez

  Inspire, Needs, Stories

  FaceBook post by Barry Lopez from Aug 10, 2010

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

  Ben Okri

  Fear, Heart, Conquer

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• There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.

  Ursula K. Le Guin

  Writing, Library, Stories

  Ursula K. Le Guin, Susan Wood (1980). “The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction”, p.31, Ultramarine Publishing

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• After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.

  Philip Pullman

  Book, Writing, Mind

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• There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.

  Willa Cather

  Life, Wise, Niece

  O Pioneers! pt. 2, ch. 4 (1913)

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• We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say — and to feel — "Yes, that’s the way it is, or at least that’s the way I feel it. You’re not as alone as you thought."

  John Steinbeck

  Loneliness, Animal, Trying

  "In Awe of Words". The Exonian, 75th anniversary edition, Exeter University, 1930.

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• One mark of a second-rate mind is to be always telling stories.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Second Chance, Mind, Stories

  "Of Opinions". "Characters", Book by Jean De La Bruyère, www.ourcivilisation.com. 1688.

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• We need art. We've been telling stories since the beginning. As human beings, we need it for our survival.

  Lili Taylor

  Art, Survival, Needs

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• Everyone sleeps, except lovers, who stay awake, telling stories to God

  Rumi

  Sleep, Stories, Lovers

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• By telling stories, you objectify your own experience. You separate it from yourself. You pin down certain truths. You make up others. You start sometimes with an incident that truly happened, and you carry it forward by inventing incidents that did not in fact occur but that nonetheless help to clarify and explain.

  Tim O'Brien

  Stories, Facts, Helping

  Tim O'Brien (2009). “The Things They Carried”, p.152, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• I feel that we should try and understand how we as women storytellers have often fallen into the mode of telling stories in the ways in which traditionally men would. I often find that my points of view are expressed by male characters.

  Danae Elon

  Character, Men, Views

  "TIFF 2015 Women Directors: Meet Danae Elon – ‘P.S. Jerusalem’". Interview with Freja Dam, www.indiewire.com. September 11, 2015.

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• I've got different ideas of complete happiness. But one is being by myself out in a forest, completely happy. Another is walking with a dog in some nice place. And three is sitting around preferably a fire, but not necessarily, and drinking red wine with friends and telling stories.

  Jane Goodall

  Dog, Nice, Drinking

  Interview with Lauren Barker, theweekendedition.com.au. June 5, 2014.

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• I love telling stories, telling jokes, making people laugh. Ive got no plans to stop doing it.

  David Alan Basche

  People, Laughing, Stories

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• I get my ideas for books from my own kids and sometimes from other children. Often when I am telling stories I will say: I am going to make up a new story.

  Robert Munsch

  Children, Book, Kids

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• My dad hasn't said much about his college days. Oh, a few times, he might start telling stories. And I've seen some highlight film of him from college. I remember thinking he looked really small. Which is funny, because growing up, I thought he was a pretty big guy.

  Andrew Luck

  Dad, Growing Up, College

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• My greatest strength as a writer is that I'm a storyteller. But, it was a long, hard struggle for me to make the transition from verbally telling stories to writing them. You'll note I don't dwell on descriptions in my writing, because I'm far more interested in telling the story. There are many better writers in this world, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone more passionate about stories than I am.

  Debbie Macomber

  Struggle, Writing, Long

  Source: bookpage.com

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• I love to act. And oh-so-love telling stories through film as an actor. Even on my days off.

  T. J. Thyne

  Days Off, Stories, Actors

  "Wetpaint Exclusive: TJ Thyne Is Single and Ready to Mingle!". Interview with Ian Spiegelman, www.wetpaint.com. March 12, 2011.

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