--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Reading yourself as a fiction as well as…" description: "\"“Reading yourself as a fiction as well as a fact is the only way to keep the narrative open - the only way to stop the story from running away under it..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e5b/jeanette-winterson-166_books_reading-yourself-as-a-fiction-as-well-as_1479520.png" --- # Reading yourself as a fiction as well as a fact is the… ![“Reading yourself as a fiction as well as a fact is the only way to keep the narrative open - the only way to stop the story from running away under its own momentum, often towards an ending no one wants.” quote by Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e5b/jeanette-winterson-166_books_reading-yourself-as-a-fiction-as-well-as_1479520.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e5b/jeanette-winterson-166_books_reading-yourself-as-a-fiction-as-well-as_1479520.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e5b/jeanette-winterson-166_books_reading-yourself-as-a-fiction-as-well-as_1479520.png) > ““Reading yourself as a fiction as well as a fact is the only way to keep the narrative open - the only way to stop the story from running away under its own momentum, often towards an ending no one wants.”” [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Viewing oneself as both story and fact keeps personal narratives flexible, preventing unwanted conclusions. **In simple terms:** Seeing yourself as story and fact keeps options open. Key Takeaway Embrace narrative flexibility. Themes self‑identity storytelling agency control fluidity Mood reflective hopeful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - journaling - therapy - creative writing - life planning Key Concepts philosophical self‑construction narrative theory personal growth Questions to Reflect On - What narratives are you allowing to dominate your life? - How can you balance fact and fiction in self‑perception? A Different Perspective Over‑analysis can lead to paralysis or loss of authentic self. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Narrative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/narrative/) [Reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading/) [Reading fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading-fiction/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Storytelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storytelling/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [Reading things that are relevant to the facts of your life is of limited value. 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Storytelling invites us to become not just agents of our own lives, but narrators…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-kearney/narrative-is-an-open-ended-invitation-to-ethical-and-poetical/) [Richard Kearney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-kearney/) > [I grew up not reading fiction; I watched movies and read comic books, and one of the ways I taught myself to think about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-wilson/i-grew-up-not-reading-fiction-i-watched-movies-and-read-comic-books/) [Kevin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wilson/) > [Don't spread fiction when you have no fact, it just creates friction and shows no tact.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desmond-fouche/don-t-spread-fiction-when-you-have-no-fact-it-just-creates-friction/) [Desmond Fouche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desmond-fouche/) > [“If woman had no existence save in the fiction written by men, one would imagine her a person of the utmost importance (...); as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/if-woman-had-no-existence-save-in-the-fiction-written-by-men-one-2/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“Resist demonstrating that your worldliness was more fiction than fact,” he whispered. “You, Lady Agatha, in the common parlance with which you are so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/connie-brockway/resist-demonstrating-that-your-worldliness-was-more-fiction-than-fact/) [Connie Brockway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/connie-brockway/) > [“There is some fiction, in all fact; and some fact, in all fiction.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-scott-mcleod/there-is-some-fiction-in-all-fact-and-some-fact-in-all-fiction/) [T. Scott McLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-scott-mcleod/) > [“And the stories she'd been told, were they confessions of uncommitted crimes, accounts of the worst imaginable, imagined to keep fiction from becoming fact?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-barker/and-the-stories-she-d-been-told-were-they-confessions-of-uncommitted/) [Clive Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-barker/) > [A play is fiction and fiction is fact distilled into truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-albee/a-play-is-fiction-and-fiction-is-fact-distilled-into-truth/) [Edward Albee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-albee/) > [Civilization is a fiction which becomes a fact only as long as everyone can believe in it. It is the cynic, rather than the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-mccloy/civilization-is-a-fiction-which-becomes-a-fact-only-as-long-as/) [Helen McCloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-mccloy/) > [I prefer non-fiction to fiction. 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I think we all know this, know that deeper truths can be approached…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-abani/fiction-is-more-dangerous-than-nonfiction-because-it-can-seduce/) [Chris Abani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-abani/) > [“Fiction and fact: only madmen and magistrates cannot discriminate between them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/fiction-and-fact-only-madmen-and-magistrates-cannot-discriminate/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) ## More by Jeanette Winterson > [“After nine nights must come ten and every desperate meeting only leaves you desperate for another. There is never enough to eat, never enough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/after-nine-nights-must-come-ten-and-every-desperate-meeting-only/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [You never give away your heart; you lend it from time to time. 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