--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Fiction stretches our sensibilities and…" description: "\"Fiction stretches our sensibilities and our understanding, as mere information never can.\" — Fay Weldon" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/791/fay-weldon-3097_fiction_fiction-stretches-our-sensibilities-and_2138911.png" --- # Fiction stretches our sensibilities and our understanding… ![“Fiction stretches our sensibilities and our understanding, as mere information never can.” quote by Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/791/fay-weldon-3097_fiction_fiction-stretches-our-sensibilities-and_2138911.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/791/fay-weldon-3097_fiction_fiction-stretches-our-sensibilities-and_2138911.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/791/fay-weldon-3097_fiction_fiction-stretches-our-sensibilities-and_2138911.png) > “Fiction stretches our sensibilities and our understanding, as mere information never can.” [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Stories expand empathy and insight beyond factual data, allowing us to experience perspectives we cannot get from raw information. **In simple terms:** Fiction deepens empathy more than facts. Key Takeaway Read novels to broaden understanding. Themes empathy imagination learning Mood thoughtful inquisitive Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - education - personal growth - cultural awareness Key Concepts narrative cognitive expansion Questions to Reflect On - How does a story change your view of a real issue? - What facts cannot convey that a novel can? A Different Perspective Fiction may reinforce stereotypes if not critically read. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Fiction Stretches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-stretches-4443833/) [Information](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/information/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Mere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mere/) [Mere Information](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mere-information-3978637/) [Sensibilities Understanding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensibilities-understanding-4443835/) [Sensibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensibility/) [Stretches Sensibilities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stretches-sensibilities-4443834/) [Understanding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understanding/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [For the mind is capable of dealing with only one kind of food; it lives, grows and is nourished upon ideas only; mere information…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-mason/for-the-mind-is-capable-of-dealing-with-only-one-kind-of-food-it/) [Charlotte Mason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-mason/) > [“Knowledge without implementation is but mere information. True knowledge transcends the barrier of the mind and bears fruit within action”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-haque/knowledge-without-implementation-is-but-mere-information-true/) [T. Haque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-haque/) > [For every one pupil who needs to be guarded against a weak excess of sensibility there are three who need to be awakened from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-every-one-pupil-who-needs-to-be-guarded-against-a-weak-excess-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I wanted to get the tears out of the way so I could act sensibly.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-wanted-to-get-the-tears-out-of-the-way-so-i-could-act-sensibly/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [The idea that the creative endeavor and mind-altering substances are entwined is one of the great pop-intellectual myths of our time. ... Substance abusing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/the-idea-that-the-creative-endeavor-and-mind-altering-substances-are/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [Atheism can benefit no class of people; neither the unfortunate, whom it bereaves of hope, nor the prosperous, whose joys it renders insipid, nor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fran-ois-ren-de-chateaubriand/atheism-can-benefit-no-class-of-people-neither-the-unfortunate-whom/) [François-René de Chateaubriand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fran-ois-ren-de-chateaubriand/) > [University can teach you skill and give you opportunity, but it can't teach you sense, nor give you understanding. Sense and understanding are produced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-joybell-c/university-can-teach-you-skill-and-give-you-opportunity-but-it-can-t/) [C. JoyBell C](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-joybell-c/) > [ I went to NYU graduate film school and met Pam \[Romanowsky\], and after doing a few things with her I thought she had the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-franco/i-went-to-nyu-graduate-film-school-and-met-pam-romanowsky-and-after/) [James Franco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-franco/) > [My 'Idea of India' calls not just for tolerance, but a celebration of all points of view. Where the sensibilities of every individual are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/narendra-modi/my-idea-of-india-calls-not-just-for-tolerance-but-a-celebration-of/) [Narendra Modi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/narendra-modi/) > [There has been a rather unpleasant sensibility apparent in Frank Miller's work for quite a long time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/there-has-been-a-rather-unpleasant-sensibility-apparent-in-frank/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Describing comic sensibility is near impossible. It's sort of an abstract silliness, that sometimes the joke isn't the star.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-carvey/describing-comic-sensibility-is-near-impossible-it-s-sort-of-an/) [Dana Carvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-carvey/) > [The truly erotic sensibility, in evoking the image of woman, never omits to clothe it. The robing and disrobing: that is the true traffic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-machado/the-truly-erotic-sensibility-in-evoking-the-image-of-woman-never/) [Antonio Machado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-machado/) > [As a social and as a personal force, religion has become a dependent variable. It does not originate; it reacts. It does not denounce;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-wright-mills/as-a-social-and-as-a-personal-force-religion-has-become-a-dependent/) [C. Wright Mills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-wright-mills/) > [He brought a sensibility and a hard-edged reasonableness to operating restaurants that had a lasting impact on me and still affects how I run…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-bastianich/he-brought-a-sensibility-and-a-hard-edged-reasonableness-to-operating/) [Joe Bastianich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-bastianich/) > [A successful director is someone who has the combination of skills that you can learn, but there's also an intuitive sensibility that they bring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-heinrichs/a-successful-director-is-someone-who-has-the-combination-of-skills/) [Rick Heinrichs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-heinrichs/) ## More by Fay Weldon > [Nowadays most people wear black most of the time anyway: go to a literary party and one would imagine everyone there was in perpetual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/nowadays-most-people-wear-black-most-of-the-time-anyway-go-to-a/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [My experience of men in cars has always been that if you don't want them to do something, they will. It is when they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/my-experience-of-men-in-cars-has-always-been-that-if-you-don-t-want/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [Letters crossing in the post, unfamiliar tunes heard three times in one day, the way that blows of fate descend upon the same bowed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/letters-crossing-in-the-post-unfamiliar-tunes-heard-three-times-in/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [“If that was dying, I don't want to do it again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/if-that-was-dying-i-don-t-want-to-do-it-again/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [One sort of believes in recycling. But one believes in it as a kind of palliative to the gods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/one-sort-of-believes-in-recycling-but-one-believes-in-it-as-a-kind-of/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [“Truly, books are wonderful things; to sit alone in a room and laugh and cry, because you are reading, and still be safe when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/truly-books-are-wonderful-things-to-sit-alone-in-a-room-and-laugh-and/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [“Not satisfied with what he's got? Is that it? That's husbands all over. Ungrateful pigs. You do everything for them, you bring up their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/not-satisfied-with-what-he-s-got-is-that-it-that-s-husbands-all-over/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [“Food. Drink. Sleep. Books. They are all drugs.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/food-drink-sleep-books-they-are-all-drugs/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [The prophets of doom, in my experience, are generally ignored and usually right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/the-prophets-of-doom-in-my-experience-are-generally-ignored-and/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [“There is nothing, she would think, more delicious that the icing of bought chocolate cake, eaten in the silence and privacy of the night.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/there-is-nothing-she-would-think-more-delicious-that-the-icing-of/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [“A brave little woman,’ said the vicar. ‘So many of our women are now left alone.’ And so they were. Those who in peacetime…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/a-brave-little-woman-said-the-vicar-so-many-of-our-women-are-now-left/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [How has anyone ever understood anyone, except through love, which is wordless?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/how-has-anyone-ever-understood-anyone-except-through-love-which-is/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [“Women have always tried to make themselves attractive to men, and you're not going to change a thing like that in a hurry. Look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/women-have-always-tried-to-make-themselves-attractive-to-men-and-you/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [One friend dies and we remain indifferent; another dies, perhaps less intimate, and we see ourselves as dead, and weep, mourn, tear our hair…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/one-friend-dies-and-we-remain-indifferent-another-dies-perhaps-less/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [One must be careful with words. Words turn probabilities into facts and by sheer force of definition translate tendencies into habits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/one-must-be-careful-with-words-words-turn-probabilities-into-facts/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) [Explore all 140 Fay Weldon quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) ## 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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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": "Fiction stretches our sensibilities and our understanding, as mere information never can.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Fay Weldon" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/fiction-stretches-our-sensibilities-and-our-understanding-as-mere/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Fiction" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/fiction-stretches-our-sensibilities-and-our-understanding-as-mere/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/791/fay-weldon-3097_fiction_fiction-stretches-our-sensibilities-and_2138911.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/791/fay-weldon-3097_fiction_fiction-stretches-our-sensibilities-and_2138911.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/791/fay-weldon-3097_fiction_fiction-stretches-our-sensibilities-and_2138911.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Fiction stretches our sensibilities and our understanding, as mere information never can.” — Fay Weldon", "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": "Fay Weldon", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Fiction stretches our sensibilities and our...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/fiction-stretches-our-sensibilities-and-our-understanding-as-mere/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/fiction-stretches-our-sensibilities-and-our-understanding-as-mere/#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 } } ] } ```