Happens Quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Romantic literature is in effect imaginative lying.

— Oscar Wilde

“In a world of diminishing mystery, the unknown persists.”

— Jhumpa Lahiri

If you asked me what makes the world go round, I would say self-deception. Self-deception allows us to create a consistent narrative for ourselves…

— Errol Morris

“Think of the very words “novel,” “romance” — what do they mean but exaggeration of one bit of life?”

— George Gissing

“The lie, the perfect lie, about people we know, about the relations we have with them, about our motive for some action, formulated in…

— Marcel Proust

Truth is more peculiar than fiction. Life is really a startling place.

— Mira Nair

“…I’ve come to realize that the only truths that matter to me are the ones I don’t, and can’t, understand. What’s mysterious, ambiguous, inexplicable.…

— Donna Tartt

Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.

— Anonymous

“For a moment everything was clear, and when that happens you see that the world is barely there at all. Don’t we all secretly…

— Stephen King

The novel is like a melancholy form. It's about some kind of disillusionment with the way things are versus the idea of how they…

— Elif Batuman

A novel must show how the world truly is. Somehow, reveals the true source of our actions.

— Jane Austen

The kind of fiction I'm trying to write is about telling the truth.

— Paul Auster