#story

There are books full of great writing that don't have very good stories. Read sometimes for the story... don't be like the book-snobs who won't do that. Read sometimes for the words--the language. Don't be like the play-it-safers who won't do that. But when you find a book that has both a good story and good words, treasure that book. ↗

— Stephen King

#on-writing #stories #storytelling #words

Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all. ↗

— Adam Smith

#democracy #freedom #history #hope #individualism

Do you want to go back to Vienna?” he said. Alec didn’t answer, just stared into space. “Or we could go somewhere else,” said Magnus. “Anywhere you want. Thailand, South Carolina, Brazil, Peru – Oh, wait, no, I’m banned from Peru. I’d forgotten about that. It’s a long story, but amusing if you want to hear it. ↗

— Cassandra Clare

#magnus-bane #south-carolina #story

...What happens is of little significance compared with the stories we tell ourselves about what happens. Events matter little, only stories of events affect us. ↗

— Rabih Alameddine

#reality #stories #story #storytelling #perception

Humans are pattern-seeking story-telling animals, and we are quite adept at telling stories about patterns, whether they exist or not. ↗

— Michael Shermer

#perceptions #storytelling #perception

Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor. ↗

— Robert A. Heinlein

#violence #war #violence

The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon. ↗

— Brandon Sanderson

#purpose

All over the world major museums have bowed to the influence of Disney and become theme parks in their own right. The past, whether Renaissance Italy or Ancient Egypt, is re-assimilated and homogenized into its most digestible form. Desperate for the new, but disappointed with anything but the familiar, we recolonize past and future. The same trend can be seen in personal relationships, in the way people are expected to package themselves, their emotions and sexuality, in attractive and instantly appealing forms. ↗

— J.G. Ballard

#disney #future #history #past #relationships

Nescire autem quid antequam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. (To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.) ↗

— Marcus Tullius Cicero

#latin #ignorance

He could not wait to get rid of them so he could enjoy remembering them. ↗

— Amy Hempel

#short-story #short-story