Narrative Quotes

565 quotes by 468 authors

More knowledge may be gained of a man's real character by a short conversation with one of his servants than from a formal and studied… — Samuel Johnson
I'm not interested in being perfect when im older. Im interested in having a narrative. It's the narrative that's really the most beautiful thing about… — Jodie Foster
I have often thought that there has rarely passed a life of which a judicious and faithful narrative would not be useful; for not only… — Samuel Johnson
The history of Science is not a mere record of isolated discoveries; it is a narrative of the conflict of two contending powers, the expansive… — John William Draper
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can't allow what… — Elmore Leonard
Wearing clothes should be a personal narrative of emotion. I always respond to fashion in an emotional way. — Andre Leon Talley
If the great story of the last century was the conflict among various political ideologies-communism, fascism and democracy-then the great narrative of this century will… — Cynthia Tucker
Scientific practice is above all a story-telling practice. ... Biology is inherently historical, and its form of discourse is inherently narrative. ... Biology as a… — Donna J. Haraway
Why do we place such a disproportionate emphasis on sporting achievement? Why doesn't success in other fields receive similar attention... Maybe it's because in a… — Mia Freedman
The novel is a prose narrative of some length that has something wrong with it. — Randall Jarrell
Death of the Father would deprive literature of many of its pleasures. If there is no longer a Father, why tell stories? Doesn't every narrative… — Roland Barthes
Going slowly [...] was the best way of being reminded that there is a relationship between Here and There, and that travel narrative was the… — Paul Theroux
Say what you want about it, Hell is story-friendly... The mechanisms of hell are nicely attuned to the mechanisms of narrative. Not so the pleasures… — Charles Baxter
I have nothing else to tell; unless, indeed, I were to confess that no one can ever believe this narrative, in the reading, more than… — Charles Dickens
We need a change in consciousness to go with this technology platform. We need a new narrative: we need to shift from geopolitics to biosphere… — Jeremy Rifkin
Delicacy - a sad, sad false delicacy - robs literature of the two best things among its belongings: Family-circle narratives & obscene stories. — Mark Twain
Like all mystics (and many novelists, not least the present one) he is baffled, a child, before the real now; far happier out of it,… — John Fowles
Now [Sue Grafton] loves writer's block, seeing it as a message from the psyche that the narrative is headed in the wrong direction. — Colleen O'Connor
Characters last. Beautiful writing lasts. A compelling narrative lasts. Art survives long after ideas go extinct.... — Joel Achenbach
Truth, naked, unblushing truth, the first virtue of all serious history, must be the sole recommendation of this personal narrative. — Edward Gibbon

Who Wrote These Narrative Quotes

468 authors contributed a total of 565 Narrative Quotes, led by these top contributors: