Critical Quote by Jonathan Gottschall

Fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than nonfiction, which is designed to persuade through argument and evidence. Studies show that when…

— Jonathan Gottschall

With every step of our lives we enter into the middle of some story which we are certain to misunderstand.

— Anonymous

“Books, by their very nature and variety, help us grow in empathy for others, in tolerance and awareness. But they should increase our skepticism…

— Michael Dirda

I create doubt in the reader's mind. That is what literature is for: to provoke, to raise doubts, to talk about things that are…

— Olga Tokarczuk

And must I, perchance, like careful writers, guard myself against the conclusions of my readers?

— Djuna Barnes

A novel is often a longer process in handling self-doubt.

— Robert Sheckley

I have the same confidence in the ability of our people to reject noxious literature as I have in their capacity to sort out…

— William O. Douglas

Intellectualism, though by no means confined to doubters, is often the sole piety of the skeptic.

— Richard Hofstadter

“I’m consciously shedding the assumption that a skeptical point of view is the most intellectually credible. Intellect does not function in opposition to mystery;…

— Krista Tippett

But an experienced reader is also a self-aware and critical reader. I can't remember ever reading a story without judging it.

— Hilary Mantel

Men and women cannot rest content with a superficial and unquestioning exchange of skeptical opinions and experiences of life - all of us are…

— Pope Benedict XVI

The nature of fiction is to make one distrustful of any character who lectures and castigates.

— James Lasdun