Quotes About Narrative

The difference between mad people and sane people," Brave Orchid explained to the children, "is that sane people have variety when they talk story. Mad people have only one story that they talk over and over." Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior

for a good story, told often enough puts you in rooms you've never occupied.

whether you're a memoirist or not, there's a psychic cost for lopping yourself off from the past:

No matter how many tangents he took or how far the tale flew from its starting point before he reeled it back, he had this gift: he knew how to be believed.

We all live in suspense, from day to day, from hour to hour; in other words, we are the hero of our own story.

We all live in suspense from day to day; in other words, you are the hero of your own story.

And now you'll be telling stories of my coming back and they won't be false, and they won't be true but they'll be real

The mystery story is two stories in one: the story of what happened and the story of what appeared to happen.

I will tell my story, and my reader shall judge for me. I will tell my story, and so contrive to pass some few hours of a long eternity, become so worrisome to me.

I felt the greatest eagerness to hear the promised narrative, partly from curiosity and partly from a strong desire to ameliorate his fate if it were in my power. I expressed these feelings in my answer.

LISTEN TO MY STORY, AND YOU WILL PERCEIVE HOW IRREVOCABLY IT IS DETERMINED.

We were in Africa. I know, I know. What were we doing there? We must have lived, somehow. Eaten, slept, raised children? Was it so savage and horrible that it is netter forgotten? Who can tell me? No one. Because nobody knows and everyone takes for granted what they've been told.

Let my tale be a warning. Sure as blood shall be all our undoing, it is stories that set us all free. The stories are all that matter.

The stories can push people to want to go see Africa, for example, or can totally scare them and steer them away from getting anywhere near Africa. It depends on what kind of an impact you want your stories to have on the listener.

Begin Stories With A Hint or Question A good way to capture people's attention and begin telling a story is by giving a small hint of what is to come. For example, you could start a story with, "Something hilarious happened at work yesterday," or "The craziest thing happened to me yesterday," or "I was so happy this morning.

One of the best ways to tell a story is to add emotion to it.  I must admit that it's generally easier for women to do this than men. But

When a storyteller can relate a story to the audience, it causes listeners' ears to perk up. The

This book argues that evolution is happening all around us. It is the best way of understanding how the human world changes, as well as the natural world. Change in human institutions, artefacts and habits is incremental, inexorable and inevitable. It follows a narrative, going from one stage to the next; it creeps rather than jumps; it has its own spontaneous momentum

It follows a narrative, going from one stage to the next; it creeps rather than jumps; it has its own spontaneous momentum, rather than being driven from outside; it has no goal or end in mind; and it largely happens by trial and error – a version of natural selection.

Collective achievement, of course, is less appealing both to the participants and to those later reading about it as the human impulse is to look for the heroes and villains.

I had opened a book that could not be closed, started a story that had no obvious conclusion. It was a tale in which I wanted to play no part.

A story should have a point, but a life doesn't need one. It just needs to be lived.

Most martyr stories – sacred and profane – contain an element of superiority. This self-denying hero or heroine is rewarded, at the very least, by capturing the admiring focus of the narrative, while everyone else recedes into the background.

Before I take you into the beating heart of the story, let's get one thing out of the way. I know from experience that when it comes up later, it will distract you so much that you won't be able to concentrate on anything else I will tell you. My name is Jubilee Dougal. Take a moment and let it sink in.