--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I felt the need to tell stories to…" description: "\"I felt the need to tell stories to understand myself.\" — Manuel Puig" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3cb/manuel-puig-9471_stories_i-felt-the-need-to-tell-stories-to-under_798947.jpg" --- # I felt the need to tell stories to understand myself. ![“I felt the need to tell stories to understand myself.” quote by Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3cb/manuel-puig-9471_stories_i-felt-the-need-to-tell-stories-to-under_798947.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3cb/manuel-puig-9471_stories_i-felt-the-need-to-tell-stories-to-under_798947.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3cb/manuel-puig-9471_stories_i-felt-the-need-to-tell-stories-to-under_798947.jpg) > “I felt the need to tell stories to understand myself.” [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker uses storytelling as a tool for self‑discovery and personal insight. **In simple terms:** Stories help understand yourself. Key Takeaway Use narrative to explore identity. Themes self‑exploration creativity identity Mood introspective inspirational Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - therapy sessions - creative writing - journaling Key Concepts narrative therapy autobiographical writing Questions to Reflect On - What personal truths have you uncovered through stories? - How can fiction aid self‑knowledge? A Different Perspective Stories may not reveal truth objectively. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Understand Myself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand-myself/) ## Related quotes > [So I decided to make a film about our need to tell stories, to own our stories, to understand them, and to have them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-polley/so-i-decided-to-make-a-film-about-our-need-to-tell-stories-to-own-our/) [Sarah Polley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-polley/) > [We tell each other stories so we can understand the world better and there's catharsis and we understand the models of what a hero…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-pine/we-tell-each-other-stories-so-we-can-understand-the-world-better-and/) [Chris Pine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-pine/) > [We are the only animals that tell stories to understand the world we live in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/we-are-the-only-animals-that-tell-stories-to-understand-the-world-we/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [“We all have the time we need to tell our stories.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-zarins/we-all-have-the-time-we-need-to-tell-our-stories/) Kim Zarins > [There is always a reason why, and I need to tell the stories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alber-elbaz/there-is-always-a-reason-why-and-i-need-to-tell-the-stories/) [Alber Elbaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alber-elbaz/) > [We need the skeletons of other stories to understand our own, sometimes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-groff/we-need-the-skeletons-of-other-stories-to-understand-our-own-sometimes/) [Lauren Groff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-groff/) > [“We, for our own part, simply call ourselves "we." "We" are the creature that tells itself stories to understand what sort of creature it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/we-for-our-own-part-simply-call-ourselves-we-we-are-the-creature-that/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [Now, the world is more than it seems to be. You know this, of course, because you read stories. You understand that there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-ursu/now-the-world-is-more-than-it-seems-to-be-you-know-this-of-course/) [Anne Ursu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-ursu/) > [Very young children love and demand stories, and can understand complex matters presented as stories, when their powers of comprehending general concepts, paradigms, are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/very-young-children-love-and-demand-stories-and-can-understand/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [My stories, I can understand them as a little toy that you wind up and you put it on the floor and it just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-saunders/my-stories-i-can-understand-them-as-a-little-toy-that-you-wind-up-and/) [George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-saunders/) > [“It's time we started taking our audiences more seriously, and stop telling them stories they can understand.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-barker/it-s-time-we-started-taking-our-audiences-more-seriously-and-stop/) [Howard Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-barker/) > [I felt in need of a great pilgrimage, so I sat still for three days and God came to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kabir/i-felt-in-need-of-a-great-pilgrimage-so-i-sat-still-for-three-days/) [Kabir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kabir/) > [I never felt the need for feminism. I never felt competition with men, which I really believed started the movement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angie-dickinson/i-never-felt-the-need-for-feminism-i-never-felt-competition-with-men/) [Angie Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angie-dickinson/) > [I've always felt that I need to be somebody in the middle of the lineup that's going to drive in runs and come up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-teixeira/i-ve-always-felt-that-i-need-to-be-somebody-in-the-middle-of-the/) [Mark Teixeira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-teixeira/) > [At a certain point, I felt the need to submit to a higher level of religiosity to move away from my intuition and to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matisyahu/at-a-certain-point-i-felt-the-need-to-submit-to-a-higher-level-of/) [Matisyahu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matisyahu/) ## More by Manuel Puig > [I think cinema is closer to allegories than to reality. It's closer to our dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/i-think-cinema-is-closer-to-allegories-than-to-reality-it-s-closer-to/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [If it's great stuff, the people who consume it are nourished. It's a positive force.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/if-it-s-great-stuff-the-people-who-consume-it-are-nourished-it-s-a/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [What's better, a poetic intuition or an intellectual work? I think they complement each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/what-s-better-a-poetic-intuition-or-an-intellectual-work-i-think-they/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [Modern American cinema seems to me superficial. The intention is to understand a certain reality, and the result is nothing but a photographing of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/modern-american-cinema-seems-to-me-superficial-the-intention-is-to/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [Contrary to what Kafka does, I always like to refer all of my fictions to the level of reality, He, on the other hand,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/contrary-to-what-kafka-does-i-always-like-to-refer-all-of-my-fictions/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [I've always wondered why there isn't a great French novel about the German occupation. The nouveau roman authors weren't interested in telling that sort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/i-ve-always-wondered-why-there-isn-t-a-great-french-novel-about-the/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [I do believe that reading can help you understand what you're writing and see what others are doing. But sometimes the desire for more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/i-do-believe-that-reading-can-help-you-understand-what-you-re-writing/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [Writers are not meant for action.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/writers-are-not-meant-for-action/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [I don't have traceable literary models because I haven't had great literary influences in my life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/i-don-t-have-traceable-literary-models-because-i-haven-t-had-great/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [For someone who writes fiction, in order to activate the imagination and the unconscious, it's essential to be free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/for-someone-who-writes-fiction-in-order-to-activate-the-imagination/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [If a spectator with a philosophical mind, somebody accustomed to reading books, gets the same kind of information in a movie, he might not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/if-a-spectator-with-a-philosophical-mind-somebody-accustomed-to/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [What better model of a synthesis than a nocturnal dream? Dreams simplify, don't they?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/what-better-model-of-a-synthesis-than-a-nocturnal-dream-dreams/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [Hitchcock makes it very clear to us. There's an objective and a subjective camera, like there's a third- and a first-person narrator in literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/hitchcock-makes-it-very-clear-to-us-there-s-an-objective-and-a/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [Whenever I write, I'm always thinking of the reader.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/whenever-i-write-i-m-always-thinking-of-the-reader/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) > [I only understand realism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/i-only-understand-realism/) [Manuel Puig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) [Explore all 66 Manuel Puig quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/) ## 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 > [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": "I felt the need to tell stories to understand myself.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Manuel Puig" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/i-felt-the-need-to-tell-stories-to-understand-myself/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Stories" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/i-felt-the-need-to-tell-stories-to-understand-myself/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3cb/manuel-puig-9471_stories_i-felt-the-need-to-tell-stories-to-under_798947.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3cb/manuel-puig-9471_stories_i-felt-the-need-to-tell-stories-to-under_798947.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3cb/manuel-puig-9471_stories_i-felt-the-need-to-tell-stories-to-under_798947.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I felt the need to tell stories to understand myself.” — Manuel Puig", "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": "Manuel Puig", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manuel-puig/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I felt the need to tell...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/i-felt-the-need-to-tell-stories-to-understand-myself/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manuel-puig/i-felt-the-need-to-tell-stories-to-understand-myself/#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 } } ] } ```