Bad Quote by Mary Gordon

Readers of novels often fall into the bad habit of being overly exacting about the characters' moral flaws. They apply to these fictional beings…

— Edmund White

There's a reason why every human society has fiction. It teaches us how to be 'good,' to behave in a way that is for…

— Orson Scott Card

Fiction, on the whole, and if it is any good, tends to be a subversive element in society.

— Fay Weldon

People look for morals in fiction because there has always been a confusion between fiction and philosophy.

— John Cheever

Fiction is a potent agent for good--in the hands of the good.

— Suzanne Curchod

“Fiction has been maligned for centuries as being "false," "untrue," yet good fiction provides more truth about the world, about life, and even about…

— Clark Zlotchew

The two worst sins of bad taste in fiction are pornography and sentimentality. One is too much sex and the other too much sentiment.

— Flannery O'Connor

I think fiction lends itself to messiness rather than the ideal, and plays well with the ironies surrounding what happens versus what should happen.

— Colm Toibin

Good fiction doesn't come out of the basic conflict of good versus bad. Instead, it comes out of a conflict between good and good.

— Leo Tolstoy

“The one thing is fiction in a novel and the other thing is reality. With fiction you don't make a fuss - you can…

— Anonymous

Good fiction creates its own reality.

— Nora Roberts

Fiction should be about moral dilemmas that are so bloody difficult that the author doesn't know the answer. What I hate in fiction is…

— Pat Barker