--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Novels aren't pedagogical instruments, or…" description: "\"Novels aren't pedagogical instruments, or instructions in law or physics or any other discipline. A novel has to be an emotional experience, a trip of ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bfd/alan-lightman-2270_books_novels-aren-t-pedagogical-instruments-or_796148.jpg" --- # Novels aren't pedagogical instruments, or instructions in… ![“Novels aren't pedagogical instruments, or instructions in law or physics or any other discipline. A novel has to be an emotional experience, a trip of the imagination, and because science has raised so many issues that concern and affect humans, it's a good starting place for me.” quote by Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bfd/alan-lightman-2270_books_novels-aren-t-pedagogical-instruments-or_796148.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bfd/alan-lightman-2270_books_novels-aren-t-pedagogical-instruments-or_796148.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bfd/alan-lightman-2270_books_novels-aren-t-pedagogical-instruments-or_796148.jpg) > “Novels aren't pedagogical instruments, or instructions in law or physics or any other discipline. A novel has to be an emotional experience, a trip of the imagination, and because science has raised so many issues that concern and affect humans, it's a good starting place for me.” [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Novels should evoke emotion and imagination, serving as a gateway to human concerns beyond factual instruction. **In simple terms:** Stories inspire feeling and imagination, not just facts. Key Takeaway Read fiction to explore human issues. Themes imagination emotion humanity Mood reflective inspired Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - education - therapy - creative writing - book clubs Key Concepts narrative theory psychology Questions to Reflect On - How does a novel change your view? - What emotions does it awaken? A Different Perspective Fiction may oversimplify complex topics. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Concern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concern/) [Discipline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discipline/) [Discipline Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discipline-novel-6105296/) [Emotional](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emotional/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [In-laws](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/in-laws/) [Instruction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instruction/) [Instruments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instruments/) [Issues](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/issues/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Novel Emotional](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel-emotional-710202/) [Novels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novels/) [Novels Aren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novels-aren-1626406/) [Physics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/physics/) [Raised](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/raised/) [Starting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/starting/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [Movies have to handle time very efficiently. They're about stringing scenes together in the present. Novels aren't necessarily about that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-russo/movies-have-to-handle-time-very-efficiently-they-re-about-stringing/) [Richard Russo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-russo/) > [“Like the roller coaster of life...novels aren't fun without ups and downs and even an occasional loop.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carmen-desousa/like-the-roller-coaster-of-life-novels-aren-t-fun-without-ups-and/) [Carmen DeSousa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carmen-desousa/) > [“As the chapters took shape, a change came over her. It was the double-sided recognition that this book, the last that she would write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-weisel/as-the-chapters-took-shape-a-change-came-over-her-it-was-the-double/) [Frederick Weisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-weisel/) > [“How truly novel. The emotional life of furniture. I never.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-maguire/how-truly-novel-the-emotional-life-of-furniture-i-never/) [Gregory Maguire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-maguire/) > [My novels aren't really generated by a single conceptual spark; it's more a process of many different elements that come together unexpectedly over a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/my-novels-aren-t-really-generated-by-a-single-conceptual-spark-it-s/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [Novels aren’t just happy escapes; they are slivers of people’s souls, nailed to the pages, dripping ink from veins of wood pulp. Reading the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-sanderson/novels-aren-t-just-happy-escapes-they-are-slivers-of-people-s-souls/) [Brandon Sanderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-sanderson/) > [I was pretty dead set against ever writing an academic novel. 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But Americans work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-moran/america-s-work-ethic-is-non-stop-it-s-not-even-enshrined-in-law-that/) [Dylan Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-moran/) > [My mother-in-law must be the probation officer I got for the crime I committed of marrying my husband.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phyllis-diller/my-mother-in-law-must-be-the-probation-officer-i-got-for-the-crime-i/) [Phyllis Diller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phyllis-diller/) > [If I tell a man he needs to quit his soul-sucking job, he has to go home and fight with his wife or fight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-beck/if-i-tell-a-man-he-needs-to-quit-his-soul-sucking-job-he-has-to-go/) [Martha Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-beck/) > [The great paradox of the civil rights revolution is that instead of enforcing and expanding equality before the law, the revolution created differential rights…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-craig-roberts/the-great-paradox-of-the-civil-rights-revolution-is-that-instead-of/) [Paul Craig Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-craig-roberts/) ## More by Alan Lightman > [“In a world of fixed future, there can be no right or wrong. Right and wrong demand freedom of choice, but if each action…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/in-a-world-of-fixed-future-there-can-be-no-right-or-wrong-right-and/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [“I've decided that has been the great achievement of our age: to so thoroughly flood the planet with megabits that every image and fact…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/i-ve-decided-that-has-been-the-great-achievement-of-our-age-to-so/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [Every reader gets something different from a book and every reader, in a sense, completes it in a different way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/every-reader-gets-something-different-from-a-book-and-every-reader-in/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > ["The Diagnosis" is by far my most ambitious book. I such great hopes for it... there was so much I wanted to do with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/the-diagnosis-is-by-far-my-most-ambitious-book-i-such-great-hopes-for/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [As long as God does not intervene in the contemporary universe in such a way as to violate physical laws, science has no way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/as-long-as-god-does-not-intervene-in-the-contemporary-universe-in/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [Except for a God who sits down after the universe begins, all other gods conflict with the assumptions of science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/except-for-a-god-who-sits-down-after-the-universe-begins-all-other/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/each-person-who-gets-stuck-in-time-gets-stuck-alone/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [A writer is someone who has a one-man tent in the desert and occasionally he sees the footprint of an other writer - in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/a-writer-is-someone-who-has-a-one-man-tent-in-the-desert-and/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [Time is a rigid, bonelike structure, extending infinitely ahead and behind, fossilizing the future as well as the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/time-is-a-rigid-bonelike-structure-extending-infinitely-ahead-and/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [For me, spirituality includes the belief in things larger than ourselves, an appreciation of nature and beauty, a sensitivity to the world, a feeling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/for-me-spirituality-includes-the-belief-in-things-larger-than/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [Writers are a loosely knit community - community is an overstated word. Writers don't see each other very much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/writers-are-a-loosely-knit-community-community-is-an-overstated-word/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [Imagine a world in which there is no time. Only images.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/imagine-a-world-in-which-there-is-no-time-only-images/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [Time is the clarity for seeing right and wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/time-is-the-clarity-for-seeing-right-and-wrong/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [In this world, time has three dimensions, like space. Just as an object may move in three perpendicular directions, corresponding to horizontal, vertical, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-lightman/in-this-world-time-has-three-dimensions-like-space-just-as-an-object/) [Alan Lightman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-lightman/) > [In this world, there are two times. There is mechanical time and there is body time." 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People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) [Christopher K. 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