--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Literature may be false, but it is not…" description: "\"Literature may be false, but it is not trivial.\" — Mason Cooley" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a08/mason-cooley-92_books_literature-may-be-false-but-it-is-not-tr_1096635.png" --- # Literature may be false, but it is not trivial. ![“Literature may be false, but it is not trivial.” quote by Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a08/mason-cooley-92_books_literature-may-be-false-but-it-is-not-tr_1096635.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a08/mason-cooley-92_books_literature-may-be-false-but-it-is-not-tr_1096635.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a08/mason-cooley-92_books_literature-may-be-false-but-it-is-not-tr_1096635.png) > “Literature may be false, but it is not trivial.” [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Literature may be fictional, yet it holds significant value and insight. **In simple terms:** Fiction isn’t trivial; it matters. Key Takeaway Recognize the importance of literary works. Themes fiction value truth culture education Mood thoughtful analytical Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - reading clubs - academic curricula - personal reflection - media analysis Key Concepts narrative truth cultural critique intellectual growth Questions to Reflect On - How does fiction influence your worldview? - What responsibilities do writers have? A Different Perspective Fiction can mislead if taken literally. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [A blunt statement can be as false as any other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/a-blunt-statement-can-be-as-false-as-any-other/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Outside literature, high-flown sentiments are merely exasperating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/outside-literature-high-flown-sentiments-are-merely-exasperating/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Literature gives us a memory of lives we did not lead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/literature-gives-us-a-memory-of-lives-we-did-not-lead/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [There is no act, however trivial, but has its train of consequences.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-smiles/there-is-no-act-however-trivial-but-has-its-train-of-consequences/) [Samuel Smiles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-smiles/) > [I love 'Anna Karenina.' It's in the top five books on my list. Tolstoy is unsurpassed in combining the grand with the trivial, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-minot/i-love-anna-karenina-it-s-in-the-top-five-books-on-my-list-tolstoy-is/) [Susan Minot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-minot/) > [The elixir of life, the philosopher's stone is yours if you surrender sterile logic, trivial reason.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilda-doolittle/the-elixir-of-life-the-philosopher-s-stone-is-yours-if-you-surrender/) [Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilda-doolittle/) > [What makes a story a story is that something changes. Internal, external, small or large, trivial or of earth-shattering importance. Doesn't matter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-monette/what-makes-a-story-a-story-is-that-something-changes-internal/) [Sarah Monette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-monette/) > [The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-c-clarke/the-more-wonderful-the-means-of-communication-the-more-trivial-tawdry/) [Arthur C. Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-c-clarke/) > [Time has a wonderful way of weeding out the trivial.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/time-has-a-wonderful-way-of-weeding-out-the-trivial/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [To the mean eye all things are trivial, as certainly as to the jaundiced they are yellow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/to-the-mean-eye-all-things-are-trivial-as-certainly-as-to-the/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [A lot of people pass off adolescent depression as something trivial.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lacey-sturm/a-lot-of-people-pass-off-adolescent-depression-as-something-trivial/) [Lacey Sturm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lacey-sturm/) > [When you say too much about anything important, it always ends up sounding more trivial than it is. Words trash it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/megan-mccafferty/when-you-say-too-much-about-anything-important-it-always-ends-up/) [Megan McCafferty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/megan-mccafferty/) > [In our attempt to make conservation easy, we have made it trivial.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldo-leopold/in-our-attempt-to-make-conservation-easy-we-have-made-it-trivial/) [Aldo Leopold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldo-leopold/) > [“...anything I do is trivial and meaningless because I'm not in a relationship and I don't have children.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dolly-alderton/anything-i-do-is-trivial-and-meaningless-because-i-m-not-in-a/) Dolly Alderton > [A poor self-image is the magnifying glass that can transform a trivial mistake or an imperfection into an overwhelming symbol of personal defeat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-d-burns/a-poor-self-image-is-the-magnifying-glass-that-can-transform-a/) [David D. Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-d-burns/) ## More by Mason Cooley > [Nostalgia keeps dissolving the ironic narratives in which I have contained my past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/nostalgia-keeps-dissolving-the-ironic-narratives-in-which-i-have/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [The modernist writers found despair inspirational.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-modernist-writers-found-despair-inspirational/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Even the most abject have a sense of superiority based on powerful though undefined merits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/even-the-most-abject-have-a-sense-of-superiority-based-on-powerful/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Money comes to life as it is spent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/money-comes-to-life-as-it-is-spent/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Even the most fickle are faithful to a few bad habits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/even-the-most-fickle-are-faithful-to-a-few-bad-habits/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Rage is exciting, but leaves me confused and exhausted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/rage-is-exciting-but-leaves-me-confused-and-exhausted/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Literary tradition is full of lies about poverty-the jolly beggar, the poor but happy milkmaid, the wholesome diet of porridge, etc.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/literary-tradition-is-full-of-lies-about-poverty-the-jolly-beggar-the/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Experience teaches us, but we scarcely know what.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/experience-teaches-us-but-we-scarcely-know-what/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [The body has a mind of its own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-body-has-a-mind-of-its-own/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [In retirement, I look for days off from my days off. Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/in-retirement-i-look-for-days-off-from-my-days-off-mason-cooley/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [My intentions go one way, my desires another. Thus I feel both self-indulgent and deprived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/my-intentions-go-one-way-my-desires-another-thus-i-feel-both-self/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [The Puritan sours his pleasures by disguising them as duties.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-puritan-sours-his-pleasures-by-disguising-them-as-duties/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Unlike the actual, the fictional explains itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/unlike-the-actual-the-fictional-explains-itself/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Vacations prove that a life of pleasure is overrated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/vacations-prove-that-a-life-of-pleasure-is-overrated/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Outside literature, high-flown sentiments are merely exasperating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/outside-literature-high-flown-sentiments-are-merely-exasperating/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) [Explore all 1,401 Mason Cooley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [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/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! 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There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [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/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. 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