--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In literature, you know only what you…" description: "\"In literature, you know only what you imagine\" — Carlos Fuentes" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/534/carlos-fuentes-1696_books_in-literature-you-know-only-what-you-ima_1254743.jpg" --- # In literature, you know only what you imagine ![“In literature, you know only what you imagine” quote by Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/534/carlos-fuentes-1696_books_in-literature-you-know-only-what-you-ima_1254743.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/534/carlos-fuentes-1696_books_in-literature-you-know-only-what-you-ima_1254743.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/534/carlos-fuentes-1696_books_in-literature-you-know-only-what-you-ima_1254743.jpg) > “In literature, you know only what you imagine” [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Imagining expands understanding beyond what is directly observed. **In simple terms:** Imagination reveals deeper truths. Key Takeaway Cultivate curiosity and imagination. Themes creativity perception literature Mood reflective inspirational Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - reading - creative writing - educational workshops Key Concepts epistemology imaginative cognition Questions to Reflect On - How does imagination shape your view of reality? - What limits your imaginative capacity? A Different Perspective Imagination can be limited by personal bias. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [ Through it \[literature\] we know the past, govern the present, and influence the future. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/through-it-literature-we-know-the-past-govern-the-present-and/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [Having spent half my time at university studying English literature, I know from experience that reading lists often contain more white men than Jacob…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nish-kumar/having-spent-half-my-time-at-university-studying-english-literature-i/) [Nish Kumar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nish-kumar/) > [Google "brooklyn writer" and you'll get, Did you mean: the future of literature as we know it?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colson-whitehead/google-brooklyn-writer-and-you-ll-get-did-you-mean-the-future-of/) [Colson Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colson-whitehead/) > [“It can also be useful to politics, enabling that science to discover how much of it is no more than verbal construction, myth, literary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/italo-calvino/it-can-also-be-useful-to-politics-enabling-that-science-to-discover/) [Italo Calvino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/italo-calvino/) > [“It’s only literature, I know, but it does something, or at least it says something.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alaa-alghamdi/it-s-only-literature-i-know-but-it-does-something-or-at-least-it-says/) [Alaa Alghamdi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alaa-alghamdi/) > [The poem is at last between two persons instead of two pages. In all modesty, I confess that it may be the death of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-o-hara/the-poem-is-at-last-between-two-persons-instead-of-two-pages-in-all/) [Frank O'Hara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-o-hara/) > [“I lived for so long without you, only dreaming of the concept of you. And, now that I know you, I can't imagine going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liz-newman/i-lived-for-so-long-without-you-only-dreaming-of-the-concept-of-you/) [Liz Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liz-newman/) > [“We’re all good when we want to be, otherwise we’re fucking animals. There’s no VIP room in reality, and there is no reality in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-m-homes/we-re-all-good-when-we-want-to-be-otherwise-we-re-fucking-animals-2/) [A.M. Homes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-m-homes/) > [“You knew me. You KNOW me. I can't imagine my life without you, without someone who knows me that well.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/you-knew-me-you-know-me-i-can-t-imagine-my-life-without-you-without/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [When somebody speaks a language that we don't know, we often imagine that some important things are being said!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/when-somebody-speaks-a-language-that-we-don-t-know-we-often-imagine/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [“To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-france/to-know-is-nothing-at-all-to-imagine-is-everything/) [Anatole France](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-france/) > [“Without stories, how do we know who we are? How can we imagine who we can be?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-cann/without-stories-how-do-we-know-who-we-are-how-can-we-imagine-who-we/) [Kate Cann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-cann/) > [“Think your color. Know how to imagine it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-moreau/think-your-color-know-how-to-imagine-it/) [Gustave Moreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-moreau/) > [Think colour! Know how to imagine it!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-moreau/think-colour-know-how-to-imagine-it/) [Gustave Moreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-moreau/) > [I often like to think that our map of the world is wrong, that where we have centered physics, we should actually place literature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/i-often-like-to-think-that-our-map-of-the-world-is-wrong-that-where/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) ## More by Carlos Fuentes > [No, it's not that they're bad. It's that they're obliged to pretend they're good. They've been brought up to deceive and be cunning, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/no-it-s-not-that-they-re-bad-it-s-that-they-re-obliged-to-pretend/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [Contrary to the macho culture of Mexico, both my grandmothers were very brave young widows. I was always very close to these hard-working, intelligent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/contrary-to-the-macho-culture-of-mexico-both-my-grandmothers-were/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [The contract between the author and the reader is a game. And the game . . . is one of the greatest invetions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/the-contract-between-the-author-and-the-reader-is-a-game-and-the-game/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [Love can isolate us from everything around us. But in its absence, we can be filled with the fear that something comparable exists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/love-can-isolate-us-from-everything-around-us-but-in-its-absence-we/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [You start by writing to live. You end by writing so as not to die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/you-start-by-writing-to-live-you-end-by-writing-so-as-not-to-die/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [“Because it’s a fucking disaster to be creative when you know you’re not Mozart or Keats. Dammit, I got tired of scratching around in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/because-it-s-a-fucking-disaster-to-be-creative-when-you-know-you-re/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [In the name of certainty, the greatest crimes have been committed against humanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/in-the-name-of-certainty-the-greatest-crimes-have-been-committed/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [Mexico is a very complex, mysterious country. I will never understand it fully, and that's why I write so much about it, in order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/mexico-is-a-very-complex-mysterious-country-i-will-never-understand/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [chaos: it has no plural.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/chaos-it-has-no-plural/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [“Sólo el imbécil no duda. Sólo el idiota no sufre".”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/s-lo-el-imb-cil-no-duda-s-lo-el-idiota-no-sufre/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [I have no literary fears.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/i-have-no-literary-fears/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [“You will have given another moment to the moment you are living and to the moments you are going to live; you have perverted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/you-will-have-given-another-moment-to-the-moment-you-are-living-and/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [I am a Mexican. The United States lived seventy-five years with the one party system in Mexico - the PRI - without batting an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/i-am-a-mexican-the-united-states-lived-seventy-five-years-with-the/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [“It is true that every mountain has four faces, and one tends to know but one. ― Carlos Fuentes, Terra Nostra”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/it-is-true-that-every-mountain-has-four-faces-and-one-tends-to-know/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [To read and write is a paradise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/to-read-and-write-is-a-paradise/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) [Explore all 134 Carlos Fuentes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! 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. Krebs > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) Markus Herz > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In literature, you know only what you imagine", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Carlos Fuentes" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/in-literature-you-know-only-what-you-imagine/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/in-literature-you-know-only-what-you-imagine/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/534/carlos-fuentes-1696_books_in-literature-you-know-only-what-you-ima_1254743.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/534/carlos-fuentes-1696_books_in-literature-you-know-only-what-you-ima_1254743.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/534/carlos-fuentes-1696_books_in-literature-you-know-only-what-you-ima_1254743.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In literature, you know only what you imagine” — Carlos Fuentes", "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": "Carlos Fuentes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "In literature, you know only what...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/in-literature-you-know-only-what-you-imagine/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/in-literature-you-know-only-what-you-imagine/#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 } } ] } ```