Quotes About Fiction

A sermon is not to tell you what you are, but what you ought to be, and a novel should tell you not what you are to get, but what you'd like to get.

The facts, if not true, were well invented; the arguments, if not logical, were seductive.

Who would ever think of learning to live out of an English novel?" said Carry.

A novelist's characters must be with him as he lies down to sleep, and as he wakes from his dreams. He must learn to hate them and to love them.

it is the function of a poet to relate not things that have happened, but things that may happen

La historia cuenta lo que sucedió; la poesía lo que debía suceder.

Do you always make things up? Always. Why? Michael shrugged. 'I want to deceive him just enough to make him want me.' What's that from? Blanche DuBois. In Streetcar.

I couldn't write—or wouldn't write, at any rate—unable to face the grueling self-scrutiny that fiction demands

Good fiction is autobiography dressed in the colours of all mankind.

First-class fiction is, and must be, in the final resort autobiographical.

De schrijver is natuurlijk de valsspeler bij uitstek. Hij maakt gebruik van middelen die anderen niet hebben. Zijn leven is een laboratorium waarin experimenten worden uitgevoerd ten behoeve van het vertellen van verhalen. Wat hem ook overkomt, hij kan altijd afstand nemen van zijn rampen, zijn tragedies, zijn mislukkingen, door erover te vertellen. Dat kunnen anderen niet altijd, niet op die manier, en dat maakt hem een valsspeler.

But please remember: this is only a work of fiction. The truth, as always, will be far stranger.

science fiction is something that could happen - but usually you wouldn't want it to. Fantasy is something that couldn't happen - though often you only wish that it could.

There's no real objection to escapism, in the right places... We all want to escape occasionally. But science fiction is often very far from escapism, in fact you might say that science fiction is escape into reality... It's a fiction which does concern itself with real issues: the origin of man; our future. In fact I can't think of any form of literature which is more concerned with real issues, reality.

For if not true, they are well imagined...

Much blood has also been spilled on the carpet in attempts to distinguish between science fiction and fantasy. I have suggested an operational definition: science fiction is something that COULD happen - but usually you wouldn't want it to. Fantasy is something that COULDN'T happen - though often you only wish that it could.

Well, I guess [2001: A Space Odyssey] legitimized [science fiction], particularly for people who looked down on science fiction; you know, the intelligentsia. My definition of the intelligentsia: someone who's educated beyond their intelligence.

To be a science fiction writer you must be interested in the future and you must feel that the future will be different and hopefully better than the present. Although I know that most — that many science fiction writings have been anti-utopias — 1984, as an example. And the reason for that is that it's much easier and more exciting to write about a really nasty future than a — placid, peaceful one.

But please remember: this is only a work of fiction. The truth, as always, will be far stranger. A.C.C.

science fiction is something that could happen—but usually you wouldn't want it to. Fantasy is something that couldn't happen—though often you only wish that it could.

You," said Stormgren, "have been reading too much science-fiction.

Undoubtedly, I am biased, but among these tales such masterpieces as 'The Star', 'The Crystal Egg', 'The Flowering of the Strange Orchid', and, above all, 'The Country of the Blind' blaze like diamonds amid costume jewellery.

This is only a work of fiction , The Truth as always will be far stranger

If it makes you feel better, I don't feed on humans. For some reason, it did make her feel better to hear him say that. not that she believed it. But still, it was a little reassuring. So, you're like Angel? He rolled his eyes at her. You watch way too much television, he muttered. Then louder, he said, Angel has a soul. I don't.