--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: All we have is the story we tell." description: "\"All we have is the story we tell.\" — Jess Walter" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adb/jess-walter-2228_stories_all-we-have-is-the-story-we-tell-377991_377991.jpg" --- # All we have is the story we tell. ![“All we have is the story we tell.” quote by Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adb/jess-walter-2228_stories_all-we-have-is-the-story-we-tell-377991_377991.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adb/jess-walter-2228_stories_all-we-have-is-the-story-we-tell-377991_377991.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adb/jess-walter-2228_stories_all-we-have-is-the-story-we-tell-377991_377991.jpg) > “All we have is the story we tell.” [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Our identities are shaped by the narratives we construct, influencing how we perceive ourselves and others. **In simple terms:** Stories define us. Key Takeaway Craft mindful narratives. Themes identity storytelling perception Mood thoughtful introspective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - personal branding - therapy - media consumption - family histories Key Concepts narrative identity psychology Questions to Reflect On - What story are you telling about yourself? - How does narrative shape reality? A Different Perspective Stories can be misleading or biased. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/story/) [Story Tell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/story-tell/) [Tell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tell/) ## Related quotes > [everybody has a story to tell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-strummer/everybody-has-a-story-to-tell/) [Joe Strummer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-strummer/) > [Everyone has a story to tell. Some of us tell them so much we get better at it. Eventually we get really good...and published.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/everyone-has-a-story-to-tell-some-of-us-tell-them-so-much-we-get/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [To be a person is to have a story to tell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isak-dinesen/to-be-a-person-is-to-have-a-story-to-tell/) [Isak Dinesen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isak-dinesen/) > [We all have a story to tell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/he-is-we/we-all-have-a-story-to-tell/) [He Is We](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/he-is-we/) > [All we have is the story we tell. Everything we do, every decision we make, our strength, weakness, motivation, history, and character-what we believe-none…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/all-we-have-is-the-story-we-tell-everything-we-do-every-decision-we/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [The story that you tell yourself is exactly what holds you back from being successful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jordan-belfort/the-story-that-you-tell-yourself-is-exactly-what-holds-you-back-from/) [Jordan Belfort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jordan-belfort/) > [“Behind the story I tell is the one I don't. Behind the story you hear is the one I wish I could make you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-allison/behind-the-story-i-tell-is-the-one-i-don-t-behind-the-story-you-hear/) [Dorothy Allison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-allison/) > [If you don't have story to tell the public at large - you have to be able to sort of go listen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-ronstadt/if-you-don-t-have-story-to-tell-the-public-at-large-you-have-to-be/) [Linda Ronstadt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-ronstadt/) > [It wasn't until my fifth or sixth book where I realized I'm trying to do the same thing in every story I tell, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-dicamillo/it-wasn-t-until-my-fifth-or-sixth-book-where-i-realized-i-m-trying-to/) [Kate DiCamillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-dicamillo/) > [“I always loved it when I had a story to tell her, because her attention was complete and felt like sunlight.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-b-parker/i-always-loved-it-when-i-had-a-story-to-tell-her-because-her/) [Robert B. Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-b-parker/) > [My family, they're story tellers. My mom is Irish, and my dad is Italian. In my family, we weren't allowed to watch TV while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meg-cabot/my-family-they-re-story-tellers-my-mom-is-irish-and-my-dad-is-italian/) [Meg Cabot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meg-cabot/) > [I think the most experimental way to a film is to tell the story the traditional way, because everyone is doing the other thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/i-think-the-most-experimental-way-to-a-film-is-to-tell-the-story-the/) [Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/) > [I wanted to tell the story of Luong Ung, who's a dear friend of mine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angelina-jolie/i-wanted-to-tell-the-story-of-luong-ung-who-s-a-dear-friend-of-mine/) [Angelina Jolie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angelina-jolie/) > [When I heard that the bees were in trouble, the fact that they're disappearing and not coming back to the hive, which is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louie-schwartzberg/when-i-heard-that-the-bees-were-in-trouble-the-fact-that-they-re/) [Louie Schwartzberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louie-schwartzberg/) > [It's a great story for us whenever an entrepreneur makes a crazy amount of money and we get to tell the world about it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lacy/it-s-a-great-story-for-us-whenever-an-entrepreneur-makes-a-crazy/) [Sarah Lacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lacy/) ## More by Jess Walter > [For many people it's Facebook, or sports on TV, whatever it is. I have my own demons that I battle. But whatever they are,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/for-many-people-it-s-facebook-or-sports-on-tv-whatever-it-is-i-have/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [Without sounding overly sentimental about the process, I'd say trying to describe how you tend to conceive of a book is like describing how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/without-sounding-overly-sentimental-about-the-process-i-d-say-trying/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [“What person who has enjoyed life could possibly think one is enough?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/what-person-who-has-enjoyed-life-could-possibly-think-one-is-enough/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [For me, movies and television are interesting because they are the dominant storytelling form of our time. My first love will always be fiction,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/for-me-movies-and-television-are-interesting-because-they-are-the/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [In seventh grade, with some vague sense that I wanted to be a writer, I crouched in the junior high school library stacks to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/in-seventh-grade-with-some-vague-sense-that-i-wanted-to-be-a-writer-i/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [“There would seem to be nothing more obvious, more tangible and palpable than the present moment. And yet it eludes us completely. All the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/there-would-seem-to-be-nothing-more-obvious-more-tangible-and/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [People sometimes ask who I would cast in my books and I never have any idea. I don't think I could ever write a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/people-sometimes-ask-who-i-would-cast-in-my-books-and-i-never-have/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [“A writer needs four things to achieve greatness, Pasquale: desire, disappointment, and the sea.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/a-writer-needs-four-things-to-achieve-greatness-pasquale-desire/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [Life, he thought, is a blatant act of imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/life-he-thought-is-a-blatant-act-of-imagination/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [“And Pasquale forced himself to look away from her then. It was like prying a magnet off steel, but he did it: he turned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/and-pasquale-forced-himself-to-look-away-from-her-then-it-was-like/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [I've been simultaneously drawn to and repelled from Hollywood for years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/i-ve-been-simultaneously-drawn-to-and-repelled-from-hollywood-for/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [I cling to the idea that Herman Melville had to work at the end of his career watching ships in a dock, as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/i-cling-to-the-idea-that-herman-melville-had-to-work-at-the-end-of/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [I come from a newspaper background, so maybe I'm attuned to current events.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/i-come-from-a-newspaper-background-so-maybe-i-m-attuned-to-current/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [Maybe every couple lived in the gaps between conversations, unable to say the important things for fear they had already been said, or couldn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/maybe-every-couple-lived-in-the-gaps-between-conversations-unable-to/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) > [“How do you think it should end?” Young Pasquale considered the question. “Well, instead of going back to America during the war, he could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/how-do-you-think-it-should-end-young-pasquale-considered-the-question/) [Jess Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) [Explore all 177 Jess Walter quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/) ## More Stories quotes > [Histories never conclude; they just pause their prose. Their stories are, if they are truthful, untidy affairs, resistant to windings-up and sortings-out. They beat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/histories-never-conclude-they-just-pause-their-prose-their-stories/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [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/) > [When you listen to someone improvise, the notes that are played are only half the story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hubert-laws/when-you-listen-to-someone-improvise-the-notes-that-are-played-are/) [Hubert Laws](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hubert-laws/) > [Well, The Day the Earth Caught Fire was a story... I don't if anybody knows what it is but it was about... in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/val-guest/well-the-day-the-earth-caught-fire-was-a-story-i-don-t-if-anybody/) [Val Guest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/val-guest/) > [She smiled, if he could see that, and waited for him to ask the real question. But he was silent. He wanted her to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-shinn/she-smiled-if-he-could-see-that-and-waited-for-him-to-ask-the-real/) [Sharon Shinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-shinn/) > [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/) > [It took me 20 years to buy an electric typewriter, because I was afraid it would be too sensitive. I like to bang the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elmore-leonard/it-took-me-20-years-to-buy-an-electric-typewriter-because-i-was/) [Elmore Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elmore-leonard/) > [Having small children and being an investigative reporter would seem like a difficult mix, but it worked well for me. I was often working…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-abramson/having-small-children-and-being-an-investigative-reporter-would-seem/) [Jill Abramson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-abramson/) > [In the current climate, things that are true, brave human stories become political.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-blanchett/in-the-current-climate-things-that-are-true-brave-human-stories/) [Cate Blanchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-blanchett/) > [It goes to show you how we in the press so often miss the big stories that are right under our noses. There is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ebert/it-goes-to-show-you-how-we-in-the-press-so-often-miss-the-big-stories/) [Roger Ebert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ebert/) > [Now I am in the place I call this wide wide Heaven because it includes all my simplest desires but also the most humble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-sebold/now-i-am-in-the-place-i-call-this-wide-wide-heaven-because-it/) [Alice Sebold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-sebold/) > [I think it's actually kind of sweet how there is a reciprocal effect that our stories can have on each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chelsea-manning/i-think-it-s-actually-kind-of-sweet-how-there-is-a-reciprocal-effect/) [Chelsea Manning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chelsea-manning/) > [I had sort of had a 21st birthday when I was 17, 18 years old living in Japan. I had all of that stuff…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-wright/i-had-sort-of-had-a-21st-birthday-when-i-was-17-18-years-old-living/) [Sarah Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-wright/) > [Story is about pulling the reader in and a plot is a more externalized mechanism of revelation. A plot is more antic, more performative,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/story-is-about-pulling-the-reader-in-and-a-plot-is-a-more/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [Women know things that men will never know. We keep the best secrets. We tell the best stories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-hoffman/women-know-things-that-men-will-never-know-we-keep-the-best-secrets/) [Alice Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-hoffman/) [Browse all 19,094 Stories quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "All we have is the story we tell.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jess Walter" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/all-we-have-is-the-story-we-tell/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Stories" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/all-we-have-is-the-story-we-tell/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adb/jess-walter-2228_stories_all-we-have-is-the-story-we-tell-377991_377991.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adb/jess-walter-2228_stories_all-we-have-is-the-story-we-tell-377991_377991.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adb/jess-walter-2228_stories_all-we-have-is-the-story-we-tell-377991_377991.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“All we have is the story we tell.” — Jess Walter", "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": "Jess Walter", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-walter/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "All we have is the story...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/all-we-have-is-the-story-we-tell/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-walter/all-we-have-is-the-story-we-tell/#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 } } ] } ```