---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think, like, fiction has a place to…"
description: "\"I think, like, fiction has a place to understand those things that are hardest to understand that non-fiction can't ever get at.\" — Andrew Sean Greer"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fed/andrew-sean-greer-2689_fiction_i-think-like-fiction-has-a-place-to-unde_1213399.png"
---

#  I think, like, fiction has a place to understand those…

![“I think, like, fiction has a place to understand those things that are hardest to understand that non-fiction can't ever get at.” quote by Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fed/andrew-sean-greer-2689_fiction_i-think-like-fiction-has-a-place-to-unde_1213399.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fed/andrew-sean-greer-2689_fiction_i-think-like-fiction-has-a-place-to-unde_1213399.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fed/andrew-sean-greer-2689_fiction_i-think-like-fiction-has-a-place-to-unde_1213399.png)

> “I think, like, fiction has a place to understand those things that are hardest to understand that non-fiction can't ever get at.”

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Fiction explores complex truths that factual accounts often miss, offering deeper insight.

**In simple terms:** Stories reveal hidden truths.

Key Takeaway

Read fiction to grasp complex ideas.

Themes

imagination truth understanding literature

Mood

thoughtful curious

Type

philosophical inspirational

When to use this quote

- education
- personal development
- cultural analysis
- creative writing

Key Concepts

narrative theory epistemology empathy

Questions to Reflect On

- What truths have you learned from a novel?
- How does story shape your perception of reality?

A Different Perspective

Fiction may blur factual accuracy.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/)

## Related quotes

> [Fiction is a place where people can meet, where they take the time to very seriously examine and think about the experiences of other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-klay/fiction-is-a-place-where-people-can-meet-where-they-take-the-time-to/)

[Phil Klay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-klay/)

> [The most familiar facts are often hardest to understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/the-most-familiar-facts-are-often-hardest-to-understand/)

[Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/)

> [“Fiction should be a place of lollipops and escape. Real life is depressing enough--I, for one, don't want to read about make believe misery,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-christie/fiction-should-be-a-place-of-lollipops-and-escape-real-life-is/)

[Nicole Christie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-christie/)

> [“The simplest things are the hardest to understand.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-wilson/the-simplest-things-are-the-hardest-to-understand/)

[Kevin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wilson/)

> [If people cannot be flawed in fiction there's no place left for us to be human.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roxane-gay/if-people-cannot-be-flawed-in-fiction-there-s-no-place-left-for-us-to/)

[Roxane Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roxane-gay/)

> [One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about humans was their habit of continually stating and repeating the very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/one-of-the-things-ford-prefect-had-always-found-hardest-to-understand-4/)

[Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/)

> [“If we do not understand the things which are below ourselves, how shall we understand those which are above us?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-j-arnoudt/if-we-do-not-understand-the-things-which-are-below-ourselves-how/)

[Peter J. Arnoudt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-j-arnoudt/)

> [“But intending to understand ten things, you actually do not understand even one. If you know a hundred flowers you do not “know” a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masanobu-fukuoka/but-intending-to-understand-ten-things-you-actually-do-not-understand/)

[Masanobu Fukuoka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masanobu-fukuoka/)

> [In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-mathematics-you-don-t-understand-things-you-just-get-used-to-them/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [“A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kubrick/a-film-is-or-should-be-more-like-music-than-like-fiction-it-should-be/)

[Stanley Kubrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kubrick/)

> [“Science Fiction properly conceived, like all serious fiction, however funny, is a way of trying to describe what is going on, what people actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/science-fiction-properly-conceived-like-all-serious-fiction-however/)

[Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/)

> [“Write non-fiction like fiction, so the reader is constantly turning the page to find out what happens next, and write fiction like non-fiction, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-robinson/write-non-fiction-like-fiction-so-the-reader-is-constantly-turning/)

[Jeffrey Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-robinson/)

> [I read certain things about history. I don't like fiction. I read about stuff that's real, stuff that's goin' on in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prodigy/i-read-certain-things-about-history-i-don-t-like-fiction-i-read-about/)

[Prodigy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prodigy/)

> [“Doesn't every previous era feel like fiction once it's gone?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/doesn-t-every-previous-era-feel-like-fiction-once-it-s-gone/)

[Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/)

> [I was in my senior year of high school when I read 'Notes From Underground' by Dostoyevsky, and it was an exhilarating discovery. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-messud/i-was-in-my-senior-year-of-high-school-when-i-read-notes-from/)

[Claire Messud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-messud/)

## More by Andrew Sean Greer

> [It takes too much imagination to see the sorrows of people we take for happy. Their real battles take place, like those of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/it-takes-too-much-imagination-to-see-the-sorrows-of-people-we-take/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

> [They say you hit your stride as a writer at about 50. I'm hoping to do that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/they-say-you-hit-your-stride-as-a-writer-at-about-50-i-m-hoping-to-do/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

> [“Then I traveled. Quite a bit, in fact. You have to stockpile a few beautiful vistas in your memory, Pearlie. In case we're rationed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/then-i-traveled-quite-a-bit-in-fact-you-have-to-stockpile-a-few/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

> [Writing fiction is an act of imaginative empathy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/writing-fiction-is-an-act-of-imaginative-empathy/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

> [“To give up a marriage - someone unmarried might imagine it's like giving up a seat in a theater, or sacrificing a trick in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/to-give-up-a-marriage-someone-unmarried-might-imagine-it-s-like/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

> [“Standing on the deck of a San Francisco ferryboat, in a gray suit so precisely the same colour as the fog that he seems…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/standing-on-the-deck-of-a-san-francisco-ferryboat-in-a-gray-suit-so/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

> [“We're too old to think we'll meet again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/we-re-too-old-to-think-we-ll-meet-again/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

> [“A rosewater smell from the box summoned, instantly, a dictatorial woman with a tight bun, hectoring him with questions. The cut, the buttons, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/a-rosewater-smell-from-the-box-summoned-instantly-a-dictatorial-woman/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

> [Does love always form, like a pearl, around the hardened bits of life?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/does-love-always-form-like-a-pearl-around-the-hardened-bits-of-life/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

> [I was raised Unitarian, and my mother said she took us to church so that we wouldn't get religious later in life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/i-was-raised-unitarian-and-my-mother-said-she-took-us-to-church-so/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

> [A downside to being a successful novelist? Wow - I can't imagine one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/a-downside-to-being-a-successful-novelist-wow-i-can-t-imagine-one/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

> [My country is nothing if not diverse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/my-country-is-nothing-if-not-diverse/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

> [Any gay man in America redeals a deck at some point.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/any-gay-man-in-america-redeals-a-deck-at-some-point/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

> [“We kept each other's stare a long time, for we had each done a startling thing, dodged time for an instant - which is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/we-kept-each-other-s-stare-a-long-time-for-we-had-each-done-a/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

> [My grandmother was not a great storyteller.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/my-grandmother-was-not-a-great-storyteller/)

[Andrew Sean Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

[Explore all 154 Andrew Sean Greer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/)

## More Fiction quotes

> [“…progress isn't necessarily about change but about things turning out as we want them to”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-hogan/progress-isn-t-necessarily-about-change-but-about-things-turning-out/)

Phil Hogan

> [The thing about science fiction is that it's totally wide open. But it's wide open in a conditional way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavia-butler/the-thing-about-science-fiction-is-that-it-s-totally-wide-open-but-it/)

[Octavia Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavia-butler/)

> [I do think that theater is a great venue for science fiction, and not just adaptations but also original work. I also think some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-einhorn/i-do-think-that-theater-is-a-great-venue-for-science-fiction-and-not/)

Edward Einhorn

> [Fiction is a way of exploring possibilities present but undreamt of in the living of a single life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-gordimer/fiction-is-a-way-of-exploring-possibilities-present-but-undreamt-of/)

[Nadine Gordimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-gordimer/)

> [I love writing fiction and can do it anywhere - I once even missed a flight because I was so engrossed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prue-leith/i-love-writing-fiction-and-can-do-it-anywhere-i-once-even-missed-a/)

[Prue Leith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prue-leith/)

> [“The fiction will seek the real.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coheed-and-cambria/the-fiction-will-seek-the-real/)

Coheed and Cambria

> [I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/i-think-that-most-of-us-anyway-read-these-stories-that-we-know-are/)

[Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/)

> [The danger that may really threaten (crime fiction) is that soon there will be more writers than readers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-barzun/the-danger-that-may-really-threaten-crime-fiction-is-that-soon-there/)

[Jacques Barzun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-barzun/)

> [There's always that discussion about fiction about how do you market it - these are books for boys, these are books for girls, these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-a-weatherly/there-s-always-that-discussion-about-fiction-about-how-do-you-market/)

[L.A. Weatherly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-a-weatherly/)

> [Inspiration comes from so many sources. Music, other fiction, the non-fiction I read, TV shows, films, news reports, people I know, stories I hear,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trudi-canavan/inspiration-comes-from-so-many-sources-music-other-fiction-the-non/)

[Trudi Canavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trudi-canavan/)

> [I'm not interested in making a diagnostic novel or a concern. I'm 100 percent committed in fiction to the pleasure principle - that's what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/i-m-not-interested-in-making-a-diagnostic-novel-or-a-concern-i-m-100/)

[Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/)

> [“His hands on my waist he gently pulled me n embrace. I could feel his breath on my face our lips were about to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-eglinger/his-hands-on-my-waist-he-gently-pulled-me-n-embrace-i-could-feel-his/)

[Nicole Eglinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-eglinger/)

> [In early drafts, one of the trickiest things for me to do was to realize that the techniques and devices that make readable and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-rooney/in-early-drafts-one-of-the-trickiest-things-for-me-to-do-was-to/)

[Kathleen Rooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-rooney/)

> [I don't think it's always a sign of respect for persons (inside or outside of fiction) to pretend to be able to represent, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-lerner/i-don-t-think-it-s-always-a-sign-of-respect-for-persons-inside-or/)

[Ben Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-lerner/)

> [Metafiction says something. It has to do with taking a large fiction itself and writing within it; that kind of self-reflecting writing that emerges…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-coover/metafiction-says-something-it-has-to-do-with-taking-a-large-fiction/)

[Robert Coover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-coover/)

[Browse all 7,410 Fiction quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "I think, like, fiction has a place to understand those things that are hardest to understand that non-fiction can't ever get at.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Andrew Sean Greer"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/i-think-like-fiction-has-a-place-to-understand-those-things-that-are/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Fiction"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/i-think-like-fiction-has-a-place-to-understand-those-things-that-are/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fed/andrew-sean-greer-2689_fiction_i-think-like-fiction-has-a-place-to-unde_1213399.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fed/andrew-sean-greer-2689_fiction_i-think-like-fiction-has-a-place-to-unde_1213399.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fed/andrew-sean-greer-2689_fiction_i-think-like-fiction-has-a-place-to-unde_1213399.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“I think, like, fiction has a place to understand those things that are hardest to understand that…” — Andrew Sean Greer",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Andrew Sean Greer",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sean-greer/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "I think, like, fiction has a...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/i-think-like-fiction-has-a-place-to-understand-those-things-that-are/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sean-greer/i-think-like-fiction-has-a-place-to-understand-those-things-that-are/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
