---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: History in the storyteller's hand was a…"
description: "\"“History in the storyteller's hand was a potent force indeed,…”\" — Kate Morton"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfe/kate-morton-805_history_history-in-the-storyteller-s-hand-was-a_232015.png"
---

#  History in the storyteller's hand was a potent force…

![“History in the storyteller's hand was a potent force indeed,…” quote by Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfe/kate-morton-805_history_history-in-the-storyteller-s-hand-was-a_232015.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfe/kate-morton-805_history_history-in-the-storyteller-s-hand-was-a_232015.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfe/kate-morton-805_history_history-in-the-storyteller-s-hand-was-a_232015.png)

> ““History in the storyteller's hand was a potent force indeed,…””

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Storytellers wield narrative power, shaping history's perception and influencing collective memory.

**In simple terms:** Narratives shape how history is remembered.

Key Takeaway

Use storytelling responsibly.

Themes

history storytelling power

Mood

reflective cautious

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

- museum exhibits
- historical novels
- documentaries
- public speeches

Key Concepts

literature memory studies

Questions to Reflect On

- What responsibilities do storytellers have?
- How can audiences discern truth?

A Different Perspective

Stories can also mislead if biased.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Storyteller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storyteller/) [Storytellers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storytellers/)

## Related quotes

> [It is the storyteller who makes us what we are, who creates history. The storyteller creates the memory that the survivors must have -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chinua-achebe/it-is-the-storyteller-who-makes-us-what-we-are-who-creates-history/)

[Chinua Achebe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chinua-achebe/)

> [I'm not an artist. An artist makes an object. Me, it's not an object, I work in history, I'm a storyteller.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastiao-salgado/i-m-not-an-artist-an-artist-makes-an-object-me-it-s-not-an-object-i/)

[Sebastiao Salgado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastiao-salgado/)

> [You possess a potent force that you either use, or misuse, hundreds of times every day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-martin-kohe/you-possess-a-potent-force-that-you-either-use-or-misuse-hundreds-of/)

[J. Martin Kohe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-martin-kohe/)

> [Oh! that gentleness! how far more potent is it than force!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/oh-that-gentleness-how-far-more-potent-is-it-than-force/)

[Charlotte Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/)

> [“In the twenty-first century fiction might thereby become the most potent force on earth, surpassing even wayward asteroids and natural selection.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/in-the-twenty-first-century-fiction-might-thereby-become-the-most/)

[Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/)

> [I believe that all brands will become storytellers, editors and publishers, all stores will become magazines, and all media companies will become stores. There…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-massenet/i-believe-that-all-brands-will-become-storytellers-editors-and/)

[Natalie Massenet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-massenet/)

> [To be able to make up stories has been a great gift to me from my ancestors and from the storytellers who were so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-marmon-silko/to-be-able-to-make-up-stories-has-been-a-great-gift-to-me-from-my/)

[Leslie Marmon Silko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-marmon-silko/)

> [The earliest storytellers were magi, seers, bards, griots, shamans. They were, it would seem, old as time, and as terrifying to gaze upon as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-okri/the-earliest-storytellers-were-magi-seers-bards-griots-shamans-they/)

[Ben Okri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-okri/)

> [All humans are storytellers with their own unique point of view. When we understand this, we no longer feel the need to impose our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-angel-ruiz/all-humans-are-storytellers-with-their-own-unique-point-of-view-when/)

[Miguel Angel Ruiz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-angel-ruiz/)

> [Not all poetry wants to be storytelling. And not all storytelling wants to be poetry. But great storytellers and great poets share something in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-kay/not-all-poetry-wants-to-be-storytelling-and-not-all-storytelling/)

[Sarah Kay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-kay/)

> [Before we were born, a whole society of storytellers was already here. The storytellers who were here before us taught us how to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-angel-ruiz/before-we-were-born-a-whole-society-of-storytellers-was-already-here/)

[Miguel Angel Ruiz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-angel-ruiz/)

> [We are basically storytellers, descendants of the old men who sat around the fire and told us legends, fairytales, exploits, or maybe just how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-saks/we-are-basically-storytellers-descendants-of-the-old-men-who-sat/)

Sol Saks

> [I am not attempting to preserve culture, or record actual events or stories. Instead I bow my head in gratitude to those storytellers who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-briggs/i-am-not-attempting-to-preserve-culture-or-record-actual-events-or/)

[Patricia Briggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-briggs/)

> [I love creating stories, dreaming up characters and breathing life into them. From several generations of Irish storytellers, I think that's what I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-conrad/i-love-creating-stories-dreaming-up-characters-and-breathing-life/)

[Linda Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-conrad/)

> [Well, I think storytellers have always found murder a fascinating device.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/well-i-think-storytellers-have-always-found-murder-a-fascinating/)

[Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/)

## More by Kate Morton

> [“Laurel wondered whether perhaps a person reached an age when so much was kept from them, so many details of life discussed and decided…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/laurel-wondered-whether-perhaps-a-person-reached-an-age-when-so-much/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [“It hardly needs to be said: sooner or later secrets have a way of making themselves known.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/it-hardly-needs-to-be-said-sooner-or-later-secrets-have-a-way-of/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [“Give someone more time and they'll appear to have done more with it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/give-someone-more-time-and-they-ll-appear-to-have-done-more-with-it/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [“It suddenly seemed to Laurel that all the absences in her own life, every loss and sadness, every nightmare in the dark, every unexplained…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/it-suddenly-seemed-to-laurel-that-all-the-absences-in-her-own-life/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [Rejection is a cancer, Edie. It eats away at a person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/rejection-is-a-cancer-edie-it-eats-away-at-a-person/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [“home is a magnet that lures back even its most abstracted children.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/home-is-a-magnet-that-lures-back-even-its-most-abstracted-children/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [“tiempo tiene su peculiar manera de moldear a la gente de forma que ellos mismos ya no se reconocen,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/tiempo-tiene-su-peculiar-manera-de-moldear-a-la-gente-de-forma-que/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [“I want to know how it feels to be altered by life”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/i-want-to-know-how-it-feels-to-be-altered-by-life/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [“She'd opened the front cover and fallen inside the wonderful, frightening, magical illustrations. She'd wondered what it must feel like to escape the rigid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/she-d-opened-the-front-cover-and-fallen-inside-the-wonderful/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [It's special, grandparents and grandchldren. So much simpler. Is it always so, I wonder? I think perhaps it is. While one's child takes a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/it-s-special-grandparents-and-grandchldren-so-much-simpler-is-it/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [“... and I thought -not for the first time- what a true and simple pleasure it was, to be inside and sated when the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/and-i-thought-not-for-the-first-time-what-a-true-and-simple-pleasure/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [“Nell was like a witch. Her long silvery hair rolled into a bun on the back of her head, the narrow wooden house on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/nell-was-like-a-witch-her-long-silvery-hair-rolled-into-a-bun-on-the/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [Thinking of nothing. Trying to think of nothing. Thinking of everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/thinking-of-nothing-trying-to-think-of-nothing-thinking-of-everything/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [There's a market for mysteries for adults. That feeling of opening a book and delving inside and not coming out until you've closed the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/there-s-a-market-for-mysteries-for-adults-that-feeling-of-opening-a/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

> [“I don’t have many friends, not the living, breathing sort at any rate. And I don’t mean that in a sad and lonely way;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/i-don-t-have-many-friends-not-the-living-breathing-sort-at-any-rate/)

[Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

[Explore all 334 Kate Morton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/)

## More History 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/)

> [It is said that history turns on small hinges. A human career, too, results from an accumulating series of decisions about large and small…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-vincent-peale/it-is-said-that-history-turns-on-small-hinges-a-human-career-too/)

[Norman Vincent Peale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-vincent-peale/)

> [The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-history-of-mankind-interests-us-only-as-it-exhibits-a-steady-gain/)

[Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/)

> [In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another day just like today, and there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-buechner/in-the-entire-history-of-the-universe-let-alone-in-your-own-history/)

[Frederick Buechner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-buechner/)

> [The NBA is my history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penny-hardaway/the-nba-is-my-history/)

[Penny Hardaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penny-hardaway/)

> [History has often showed us the strength of the forces that are unleashed by the yearning for freedom. It moved people to overcome their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-merkel/history-has-often-showed-us-the-strength-of-the-forces-that-are/)

[Angela Merkel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-merkel/)

> [We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/we-find-few-historians-who-have-been-diligent-enough-in-their-search/)

[John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/)

> [What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-is-history-after-all-history-is-facts-which-become-lies-in-the/)

[Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/)

> [Things live and die, and then someone processes them into edible portions. This is a complete telling of the story, 'Food.' The basic plot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-fahrenthold/things-live-and-die-and-then-someone-processes-them-into-edible/)

[David Fahrenthold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-fahrenthold/)

> [History is a certain way, but you just change the point of view a little bit, and you discover a whole new side of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allison-schroeder/history-is-a-certain-way-but-you-just-change-the-point-of-view-a/)

[Allison Schroeder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allison-schroeder/)

> [We're at a point in history were we have to become a part of the neighborhood of inhabited planets, like a neighborhood of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-mitchell/we-re-at-a-point-in-history-were-we-have-to-become-a-part-of-the/)

[Edgar Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-mitchell/)

> [Today is a reality, tomorrow's a promise, and yesterday's history!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-blanks/today-is-a-reality-tomorrow-s-a-promise-and-yesterday-s-history/)

[Billy Blanks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-blanks/)

> [Truth be told from compulsive liars with a history/Everything must change 2nd chances are a mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-dash/truth-be-told-from-compulsive-liars-with-a-history-everything-must/)

C-DASH

> [Every army in the history of the world has always had some deserters, usually much greater than we have today, because once again every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-hilferty/every-army-in-the-history-of-the-world-has-always-had-some-deserters/)

[Bryan Hilferty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-hilferty/)

> [“To those great geniuses now in petticoats, who shall write novels for the beloved reader's children, these men and things will be as much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-makepeace-thackeray/to-those-great-geniuses-now-in-petticoats-who-shall-write-novels-for/)

[William Makepeace Thackeray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-makepeace-thackeray/)

[Browse all 27,263 History quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“History in the storyteller's hand was a potent force indeed,…”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Kate Morton"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/history-in-the-storyteller-s-hand-was-a-potent-force-indeed/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "History"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/history-in-the-storyteller-s-hand-was-a-potent-force-indeed/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfe/kate-morton-805_history_history-in-the-storyteller-s-hand-was-a_232015.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfe/kate-morton-805_history_history-in-the-storyteller-s-hand-was-a_232015.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfe/kate-morton-805_history_history-in-the-storyteller-s-hand-was-a_232015.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“History in the storyteller's hand was a potent force indeed,…” — Kate Morton",
                "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": "Kate Morton",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“History in the storyteller's hand was...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/history-in-the-storyteller-s-hand-was-a-potent-force-indeed/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/history-in-the-storyteller-s-hand-was-a-potent-force-indeed/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
