Quotes About Stories

I reread an observation by Willa Cather with a mixture of amusement and startled recognition: "THERE ARE ONLY two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.

If I've been convinced by one idea in the course of collecting all the life stories that inform the book, it is this: Times of crisis, of disruption or constructive change, are not only predictable but desirable. They mean growth.

How much does it take to have a history as opposed to anecdotes? Is there a critical mass? We

She suspected that civilization had been invented to make more stories. And

You get old and you realize there are no answers, just stories.

Stories continue in all directions to include even the retelling of the stories themselves, as legend is informed by interpretation, and interpretation is informed by time.

Our own conceptions of creation are far more scientific in outlook, and we expect creation stories merely to disclose the rudiments of nature's origins. Not so the ancients. They told creation stories with the primary purpose of providing a cosmic foundation for the meaning and purpose of human life.

Insights change our desires; the new stories shift our goals, leading us to give up some ambitions and pursue others.

In the art of literature there are two contending parties. Those who aim to tell stories that are more or less well thought out, and those who aim at beautiful language, beauty of form. This contest may last a very long time; each side has a fifty-fifty chance. Only the poet can rightfully demand that verse be beautiful and nothing but.

What Djaout believed was that a lot of things can be taken away from us—even our lives—but not our stories about those lives. Eventually, no bullet will outlast the speed and velocity of language.

Feudal societies don't create great cinema we have great theatre. The egalitarian societies create great cinema. The Americans, the French. Because equality is sort of what the cinema deals with. It deals with stories which don't fall into 'Everybody in their place and who's who ' and all that. But the theatre's full of that.

One of the beautiful things about mathematical physics is that equations contain stories.

Some don't like their history presented in this way, but science is richer when its stories include people as well as ideas; curiosity is, after all, a human virtue.

similarities between the stories: the names of Adapa and Adam, the loss of eternal life, the rejection of a command and the trickster temptation. Yet there were such significant differences: the Shinar pantheon versus the sole Yahweh Elohim; failure to eat rather than eating; no trees, no wife. It was almost as if the Adapa story was an inversion of the Garden of Eden, a replacement narrative intended to displace loyalty from the original story onto a new paradigm.

It is our responsibility to keep telling these tales--to tell them in a way that they teach and entertain and give meaning to our lives,' he [Jim] said later. 'This is not merely an obligation, it's something we must do because we love doing it.

All good children's stories are the same: young creature breaks rules, has incredible adventure, then returns home with the knowledge that aforementioned rules are there for a reason. Of course, the actual message to the careful reader is: break rules as often as you can, because who the hell doesn't want to have an adventure?

But other vampire stories? Well, no, I really haven't read too many, and I can't say I'm crazy about romantic vampires anyway - to me the vampire is simply an evil monster.

The Giant rested back in his chair. "You've some stories left," he said. " I can smell them on your skin.

But there are other stories waiting to be told, and they will be lost one day, too. Whatever the case, it's all beneath your feet, right now.

Albert casually tossed everything back into the water. "Walking along the shore here is like walking on history," he said. "It's like walking on an endless catalogue of lost stories waiting to be told, and they will be lost one day, too. Whatever the case, it's all beneath your feet, right now.

Ben remembered reading about curators in "Wonderstruck", and thought about what id meant to curate your own life, as his dad had done here. What would it be like to pick and choose the objects and stories that would go in your own cabinet? How would Ben curate his own life? And then, thinking about his museum box, and his house, and his books, and the secret room, he realized he'd already begun doing it. Maybe, thought Ben, we are all cabinets of wonders.

At her return, the Viennese did not receive their Empress with any great affection. Everyone was now criticizing her, even the common people, who were disturbed at the stories of the great sums she spent abroad. The diplomates also joined in the general chorus of outrage.

We know people by their stories: their history, their habits, their secrets, their triumphs and failures. We know them by what they do. We want to know mountains too, but they've got no story. So we do the next best thing. We throw ourselves onto them and make the stories happen.

The pillars of traditional healing were 1) connection to clan and the natural world; 2) regulating rhythm through dance, drumming, and song; 3) a set of beliefs, values, and stories that brought meaning to even senseless, random trauma; and 4) on occasion, natural hallucinogens or other plant-derived substances used to facilitate healing with the guidance of a healer or elder.