---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sometimes the truth is so bizarre and…"
description: "\"“Sometimes the truth is so bizarre and mind bending that it must be presented as fiction to be accepted. George Saunders The Bookseller”\" — C. Robert C..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/c-robert-cales-225317_horror_sometimes-the-truth-is-so-bizarre-and-mi_1328673.jpg"
---

#  Sometimes the truth is so bizarre and mind bending that it…

![“Sometimes the truth is so bizarre and mind bending that it must be presented as fiction to be accepted. George Saunders The Bookseller” quote by C. Robert Cales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/c-robert-cales-225317_horror_sometimes-the-truth-is-so-bizarre-and-mi_1328673.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/c-robert-cales-225317_horror_sometimes-the-truth-is-so-bizarre-and-mi_1328673.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/c-robert-cales-225317_horror_sometimes-the-truth-is-so-bizarre-and-mi_1328673.jpg)

> ““Sometimes the truth is so bizarre and mind bending that it must be presented as fiction to be accepted. George Saunders The Bookseller””

C. Robert Cales

## About This Quote

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

Bizarre truths often need fictional framing to be accepted by audiences.

**In simple terms:** Truth may appear fictional to be believed.

Key Takeaway

Present truth creatively.

Themes

Truth Creativity Perception Fiction

Mood

intrigued skeptical

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

- Storytelling
- Marketing
- Political propaganda

Key Concepts

Literary theory Psychology of belief Narrative technique

Questions to Reflect On

- When is fiction justified to convey truth?
- How does framing affect belief?

A Different Perspective

May blur line between fact and fiction.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Bizarre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bizarre/) [Horror](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horror/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Stranger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stranger/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/)

## Related quotes

> [I write about real people in disguise. If anything, my characters are toned down-the truth is much more bizarre.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackie-collins/i-write-about-real-people-in-disguise-if-anything-my-characters-are/)

[Jackie Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackie-collins/)

> [George Saunders is a complete genius.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hader/george-saunders-is-a-complete-genius/)

[Bill Hader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hader/)

> [George Saunders is outside of Chicago too. I've met him a few times, actually. I really like him a lot. He's a really sweet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/how-to-dress-well/george-saunders-is-outside-of-chicago-too-i-ve-met-him-a-few-times/)

How to Dress Well

> [ I know a lot of people who read and think: "George \[Saunders\] is so much fun." There's no denying you're fun to read, but… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/i-know-a-lot-of-people-who-read-and-think-george-saunders-is-so-much/)

[Zadie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zadie-smith/)

> [George Saunders's 'Lincoln in the Bardo' is a hands-down masterpiece - the subject of Abraham Lincoln and the genius of this author is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-tambor/george-saunders-s-lincoln-in-the-bardo-is-a-hands-down-masterpiece/)

[Jeffrey Tambor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-tambor/)

> [I don't have one thing I go back to, but we listen to a lot of music in the bus, and we always get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/how-to-dress-well/i-don-t-have-one-thing-i-go-back-to-but-we-listen-to-a-lot-of-music/)

How to Dress Well

> [I really wouldn't call a lot of what's online "literature" since that word, to me, refers to a sub-genre of writing that belongs to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-klein/i-really-wouldn-t-call-a-lot-of-what-s-online-literature-since-that/)

[Lee Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-klein/)

> [ For me, George Saunders novel \[Lincoln in the Bardo\] is about a problem of pain. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/for-me-george-saunders-novel-lincoln-in-the-bardo-is-about-a-problem/)

[Zadie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zadie-smith/)

> [ \[George Saunders\] is very precise about what he is doing. There isn't a thing left to chance. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/george-saunders-is-very-precise-about-what-he-is-doing-there-isn-t-a/)

[Zadie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zadie-smith/)

> ['Pastoralia' by George Saunders is one of my favorite novels.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zooey-deschanel/pastoralia-by-george-saunders-is-one-of-my-favorite-novels/)

[Zooey Deschanel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zooey-deschanel/)

> [George Saunders is the funniest. He makes me laugh in the way I want to laugh - with so much empathy and deep understanding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-duplass/george-saunders-is-the-funniest-he-makes-me-laugh-in-the-way-i-want/)

[Mark Duplass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-duplass/)

> [I took a fiction-writing workshop my sophomore year at Northwestern, and I hadn't yet read Junot Diaz or George Saunders, Flannery O'Connor. There was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-russell/i-took-a-fiction-writing-workshop-my-sophomore-year-at-northwestern/)

[Karen Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-russell/)

> [I really admire the experimentalists who challenge traditional narrative - writers like Ishmael Reed, Michael Martone, Donald Barthelme, Tatyana Tolstaya, George Saunders, and many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-weinstein/i-really-admire-the-experimentalists-who-challenge-traditional/)

[Alexander Weinstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-weinstein/)

> [I was listening to this interview with fiction writer George Saunders the other day, and he said something about how the role of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-k-samson/i-was-listening-to-this-interview-with-fiction-writer-george-saunders/)

[John K. Samson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-k-samson/)

> [ A lot of \[George Saunders\] early stories now feel prophetic. Take the recent election \[of Donald Trump\]. Historians in 100 years might write about… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/a-lot-of-george-saunders-early-stories-now-feel-prophetic-take-the/)

[Zadie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zadie-smith/)

## More Bizarre quotes

> [“but 20 years from now it will be bizarre if you walk into a store and the store doesn’t know who you are.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-scoble/but-20-years-from-now-it-will-be-bizarre-if-you-walk-into-a-store-and/)

[Robert Scoble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-scoble/)

> [My illness is one often characterized by dramatic overspending - in my case through frenzied shopping sprees, credit card abuse, excessive hoarding of unnecessary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-behrman/my-illness-is-one-often-characterized-by-dramatic-overspending-in-my/)

[Andy Behrman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-behrman/)

> [Even the two times that I left, I never really felt like I left the band. It's very bizarre. It's like there's sort of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-wakeman/even-the-two-times-that-i-left-i-never-really-felt-like-i-left-the/)

[Rick Wakeman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-wakeman/)

> [Consumer wants can have bizarre, frivolous, or even immoral origins, and an admirable case can still be made for a society that seeks to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/consumer-wants-can-have-bizarre-frivolous-or-even-immoral-origins-and/)

[John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/)

> [The single greatest pleasure that I have in doing ('Bizarre Foods') is when I meet families with 6, 7, 8-year-olds, or teenagers, who say,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-zimmern/the-single-greatest-pleasure-that-i-have-in-doing-bizarre-foods-is/)

[Andrew Zimmern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-zimmern/)

> [Someone once bought me loads of clothes from a charity shop - and sent them to me in a black bin liner. That was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-shaw/someone-once-bought-me-loads-of-clothes-from-a-charity-shop-and-sent/)

[Suzanne Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-shaw/)

> [I wrote the script of Patton. I had this very bizarre opening where he stands up in front of an American flag and gives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-ford-coppola/i-wrote-the-script-of-patton-i-had-this-very-bizarre-opening-where-he/)

[Francis Ford Coppola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-ford-coppola/)

> [The Kuiper belt region, which I call the third zone because it lies beyond the rocky terrestrial planets and beyond the giant planets, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-stern/the-kuiper-belt-region-which-i-call-the-third-zone-because-it-lies/)

[Alan Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-stern/)

> [How I keep trying to force our story into a fairy tale, but from the beginning, it's been more like a nursery rhyme." "Bizarre…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-hale/how-i-keep-trying-to-force-our-story-into-a-fairy-tale-but-from-the/)

[Shannon Hale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-hale/)

> [“Entropy The Disintegrating Integration of Cheez-Whiz Squirts Insipid Inspiration Quoth the Oblong Eclipse of Nether-Knowledge Never Knowing Decaying Matter in a Decaying Orbit Orangutans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ubiquitous-bubba/entropy-the-disintegrating-integration-of-cheez-whiz-squirts-insipid/)

Ubiquitous Bubba

> ['Aiyyaa' was a bizarre film.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prithviraj-sukumaran/aiyyaa-was-a-bizarre-film/)

[Prithviraj Sukumaran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prithviraj-sukumaran/)

> [My wife and I have created our own language. We can be at a table with six other people and have an argument without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-wentz/my-wife-and-i-have-created-our-own-language-we-can-be-at-a-table-with/)

[Pete Wentz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-wentz/)

> [I'm quite a good reader of people; I like to meet people, and I can tell if they're lying or not, and I've certainly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rhys-darby/i-m-quite-a-good-reader-of-people-i-like-to-meet-people-and-i-can/)

[Rhys Darby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rhys-darby/)

> [On 'Undeclared,' I was actually the only person who had gone to college. Here we are doing this college show, and no one had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carla-gallo/on-undeclared-i-was-actually-the-only-person-who-had-gone-to-college/)

[Carla Gallo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carla-gallo/)

> [Our workforce is very co-operative, very flexible, easy to work with and one of the big selling points. The idea that Britain is still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vince-cable/our-workforce-is-very-co-operative-very-flexible-easy-to-work-with/)

[Vince Cable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vince-cable/)

[Browse all 717 Bizarre quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bizarre/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“Sometimes the truth is so bizarre and mind bending that it must be presented as fiction to be accepted. George Saunders The Bookseller”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "C. Robert Cales"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-robert-cales/sometimes-the-truth-is-so-bizarre-and-mind-bending-that-it-must-be/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Bizarre"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-robert-cales/sometimes-the-truth-is-so-bizarre-and-mind-bending-that-it-must-be/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/c-robert-cales-225317_horror_sometimes-the-truth-is-so-bizarre-and-mi_1328673.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/c-robert-cales-225317_horror_sometimes-the-truth-is-so-bizarre-and-mi_1328673.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bef/c-robert-cales-225317_horror_sometimes-the-truth-is-so-bizarre-and-mi_1328673.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Sometimes the truth is so bizarre and mind bending that it must be presented as fiction to be accepted…” — C. Robert Cales",
                "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": "C. Robert Cales",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-robert-cales/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“Sometimes the truth is so bizarre...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-robert-cales/sometimes-the-truth-is-so-bizarre-and-mind-bending-that-it-must-be/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-robert-cales/sometimes-the-truth-is-so-bizarre-and-mind-bending-that-it-must-be/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
